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The Way of Life is a path of transformation: nothing lost, nothing gained, not essentially. Transformation does not negate anything, transformation is trans-form-ation. Much of religion is "against," "on the attack," "aggressive," "evil is to be defeated," "evil doers to be annihilated," spiritual warfare considered a must for loyalty, otherwise, the evil, or Evil One, will win. So, there must be a winner, a loser. This is aggressive, oppositional, and love, joy, peace ... do not thrive in a climate of violence, of harshness. The subtle Qualities of Grace are present there, but unable to manifest into personal and collective life. Spiritual transformation is, however, a befriending of the darkness; this befriending creates a communion, compassion flows, healing happens. Persons of such compassion create environments of compassion, so transformation, Grace working silently to heal all who enter the environment. For peace, we each must cease warring with ourselves, even with that within us and about us not of peace. In this loving, peace will arise. When one chooses this way of peace for himself or herself, that one chooses it for all. Healing happens, with pure liveliness moving within and among us.
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'sadness,' derives etymologically
from a word meaning 'seriousness'
seems illuminating
this relationship between 'sad' and 'serious'
for many years, until recently, I lived with sadness
I think partly for I came up in a serious environment ~
being alive =s first-and-foremost a very-serious-matter
so, I became well-acquainted early with
gloom and gravity
I wish not to blame, however, as though assigning fault,
and some of this likely related to a predisposition to depression
~ environments, natural and collective, tend to accent or not
biological propensities
even after healing from depression,
which I suffered in childhood into my third decade,
and living a wisdom path of Grace for many years
I recognized, finally, I was living
with a palpable melancholic cloud hovering over me
that is how it felt, hovering over me,
for I did not personally feel sadness ~
this sadness was more like present, but non-attached, impersonal,
a left-over hanging around from the past
so, this relationship with sadness
was, "sadness was ever-present, I could not be said to be sad"
we likely all know the look of thick fog, early morning
then, with the Sun shining, the fog slowly transforms
there being nothing substantial about fog, water vapor in origin,
water vapor after sunshine heats the air to a certain degrees
yet, fog was present, literally a cloud in contact with the ground
made of small water drops condensed on particles in the air
this is the movement of Creating
the action of Grace expressing in form to form - transformation
so, nothing is lost in this trans-formation
only change to change occurs
this melancholic cloud attached to me
like the fog, was form, that form transformed into another form
where did the fog go?
the fog inheres in the prior pre-form and post-form
so, this foggy cloud of sadness 'left' and
I cannot locate the time that it was gone ("transformed")
like the fog-cloud hanging on to air particles
there is no one moment to locate transformation ~
transformation is a process
there was, however, a single moment ~ after it was gone, long after ~
when recognition arose sadness no longer was hovering over me
transformation occurred for many reasons, I am sure,
one an intentional path of transformation
another ingredient in the transformation process was
accepting kindly the presence of the sadness
as I wrote, recently, here
Love transforms into Love
I recognized the sadness, did not judge it as weak or wrong,
and did not feel myself impaired due to it being around
likewise, I did not try to understand
the whys of why the melancholy cloud was ever-present ~
I did not see it as a 'problem' to be overcome,
an 'enemy' to vanquish
indeed, I am neither better nor worse,
now that the sadness is not present
I share this, to urge again,
regarding the path of loving embrace being healing
in embracing our 'brokenness' we find
a new relationship with ourselves, suffering, the past
we do not indulge in this brokenness ~ that is neurotic, selfish ~
we accept, we have compassion for ourselves, and this leads
to compassion for all beings suffering, human and otherwise
in holding near, in Grace, our own suffering
we hold near the suffering of the world
for, really, as example, 'my' sadness was not 'mine'
sadness is impersonal, is the same sadness anyone feels, is universal
now, sadness arises, at times, with me
that is fine, and, like fog, it goes
sadness and gladness come and go
when the causes and conditions are present for either
what does not come and go
is Grace, and all the Good, True, and Beautiful of Life ~
Grace only gives Grace ~ "Thankfully!"
If asked, "So, sadness once hanged around, what now?"
"Thank You!" ~ Life is received as Gift
*(C) Copyright 2018. Brian K. Wilcox. Photography by Brian K. Wilcox. Move cursor over photos for more details.
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