Getting it together
‘We spend part of our life trying to get it together, and the other part watching it fall apart. As soon as we have time-’I have a whole hour free’-we are losing it. As soon as we make a friend, we are losing him. As soon as we have fame, it becomes tinged with notoriety. As soon as we have wealth, we’re losing it. Looking for something new to gain helps us forget to look but a few seconds back at the last thing we lost. Fabricating this chain of desire is how we keep ouselves in samsara. We are using this instability to try to make stability. We’re investing in hope and fear, banking on denial of a simple truth: all the pleasure the world can offer eventually turns to pain. Everything we gain is subject to loss.
Why do we put all that effort into gain when, in the end, we are going to lose it? Has anything we’ve gained brought us lasting happiness? Is there anything we own that we will be able to keep? What in our lives is not subject to the winds of gain and loss? Even this body will dissolve. In the face of death, there is only basic goodness. Gain and loss is just an illusion-one we have allowed to rule us.’
‘Ruling your world’ Sakyong Mipham