Attatchment hurts. (and is often mistaken for love).

Desiring something in exchange for your love or something/one you can't have -- this will also inevetibly hurt.

The first teaching that the Buddha offered after he attained enlightenment was that of

The 4 Noble Truths:

1) There is suffering in life for all beings.

2) There is a cause of suffering, which is egoistic craving and attachment.

3) There is a way out of suffering.

4) The way out of suffering is to eliminate attatchment and egoistic craving
----------

Identifying love with pain closes oneself off to loving, thereby closing oneself off to being loved.

Extend your love to ALL beings. Make it unconditional and all-encompassing -- even to your 'enemies'... and then let your love remain, even when it is not returned.

This is Love, with Light -- and is a joyous phenomena of life... which, by the way -- hurts.

---------------------

in peace, with love, light & respect...

Ehron

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

EXPLORING LONELINESS

When loneliness arises - and you have that feeling that you desperately need another person to fill that space of loneliness... to be there for you or with you... this is often when you will find yourself most alone.

After exhausting your phone list and any other avenue of friendly contact within your vicinity, you come to realize that no one is going to suddenly materialize to ease your suffering. At this point, as a result of not finding another person to take your mind off of how lonely you are feeling, you are instead forced to stay with and experience it. There is no other option available to you but to stay with it. There is no escaping or running away from it.

The next stage is when you explore, or express, your loneliness. For example, you may write an email or letter to someone and in it express how you are feeling. But this is less an email or letter to this other person, and more of an email/letter to your self - exploring the loneliness. Examining the feeling and the texture of your mind staying in the lonliness.

You may write a poem or a song, paint/draw, listen to music or watch a movie that deepens your exploration by relating to characters or voices who are also exploring. You might also just simply - cry.

Sometime after this cathartic exploration, after experiencing the loneliness arise - then staying with it - then exploring and examining it: the immediacy of the loneliness, not the loneliness itself, but just the immediacy and urgency of it begins to fade and thus you begin to simply rest in the loneliness.

When this occurs, it is at the moment when the tide is at it's furthest point from the shore - that exact moment just before it changes direction to come back in - the place that a wave both dies and is born - the space between space - also known as 'the gap'.

And just then, the phone rings... it's a friend, your lover or your mom/dad/sister/brother... and the wave begins its journey back to shore.

But here is the thing - the loneliness doesn't really go completely away when the tide comes in, right? For having experienced, stayed with, explored, examined and rested in it, you recognize the loneliness as the wave itself and that it is always visible from where you stand on the shore.

Likewise, when the tide goes back out, the 'togetherness' also really never goes away - for having experienced, stayed with, explored, examined and rested in it, you recognize it as being the VERY SAME WAVE as the loneliness.

Tide in - your feet are immersed in water - actually surrounded in a wave of loneliness.
This is 'togetherness'.

Tide out - your feet are no longer surrounded by water, but are still wet from the wave of 'togetherness'. This is 'loneliness'.

These waves of loneliness and togetherness are simply currents of agitated water in a larger ocean of wisdom.

May you and all beings be happy. In peace, love, light & respect,

Ehron

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.