Hi Kilian

One of the questions all wisdom traditions ask, if not always directly, is how to respond to life as it is. The reality of LIFE is that it requires the sacrifice of life. That is is wonder and horror, its beauty and ugliness. Spring dies to Summer, Summer dies to Fall, Fall dies to Winter and Winter dies to Spring. There is a time for all things

Jesus suggested that we follow him. Most teachings assume that that means following the rules and all will be well.  That Jesus becoming Christ through his death and resurrection died for our failings/sins so that we do not have to.  In my opinion I feel this misses the mark as such teachings tend to answer the question of how to respond to life as it it as a No. We broke Life (we broke what G_d created good) but can fix it by following the rules.  And we can fix it without having to ‘die’ . How many are hurt and lose there ‘faith’ when following the rules life still does not conform to their expectations.

Life is not broken!

Jesus clearly answers the question of how to respond to life as it is with a unequivocal YES and includes the cross. includes death. Psychologically/metaphorically every life transition, child to adult to senior involves a kind of death and reresection. One might argue that the reality of every breath we take involves birth, death and reresection. Every breath Christ’s breath, and on step further Love.

No easy task. Our response to the question of how to respond to ‘life as it is’ creates so many more questions. Perhaps at the top of the list the problem of Good and Evil which is really the problem of opposites (duality).

The knowledge of good and evil  is not the same thing as having knowledge of what is good and what is evil in the moment.   If we are honest with ourselves we often get it wrong. Note our first response to the knowledge of good and evil (the problem of opposites) is shame. Shame for being naked (our true selves) which we cover up with our various personas, projections and illusions.

It is in the tension we experience when confronting what appear to be opposites that creates consciousness and often depends on the point of which we measure.  What is warm and good moment is measured as cold and bad in the next…. The cost of awareness of life and poor measurements/judgments, is the loss of the garden, even though we never left it. We just can’t see it, or face it, as it is.

Does good and evil exist as opposites or are they so interconnected that one cannot be separated from the other?

Gautama realizes his Buddhahood as he sits under the tree and is confronted with the wonder and horror of Life as it is. The Buddha response, pointing his finger and touching the ground. Good and Evil dissolve, Duality is a illusion, life is this present moment, Engage it as it is. Gautama response a resounding YES to life as it is, it wonder and its horror. (As in Christianly many mistake the answer as a No – a nullification of the self  turning to a negation of life).

Life is the cycle of life and death and we desire to stop spinning and suffering. The irony being its the answer of No that keeps the cycle (suffering) spinning. Yes, life and death no longer opposites but intimately entangled within each other dissolve…,  The ‘All’, The void which contains all things, Love… words disappear. Life is in us and we are in Life.

Point your finger and touch the ground, this moment, as it is, do we dare say Yes?  Laugh, cry, sing, shout… (avoid the trap of indifference which turn’s the Yes into a No. ) Yes a detachment from outcomes while being engaged in Life as it is. Eyes wide open.

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The word God is often mistaken for G_d. The finger that points to the moon mistaken for the moon. Words that should be transparent to the transcendent mistaken for what cannot be bounded by words. When you use the word God do you imagine a being or being itself?

Fear is to courage as doubt is to faith. Doubt and faith not opposites but intimately entangled within each other. Some mistake faith with being certain, however there is a difference in being certain of what you think/believe and acting with a certainty while not knowing. Faith is exercised in times of uncertainty. Can you say Yes to uncertainty?

We are all of us falling, and so falling let us fall to grace with grace.

Why does the Buddha laugh?