The Weight of the World

It can really get heavy at times. I was recently corresponding with a good friend of mine who mentioned that he didn’t think that he was capable of developing a calm mind in such a chaotic world, which might be a common problem for a lot of us. With stress levels at an all time high, a calm mind would certainly be welcome! So what can we do?

All I know is that when things come up in our lives and present themselves as burdens rather than simply something to be solved; we are probably confused about the situation. We haven’t acquired enough wisdom to dispatch the problem quickly and easily. It would be similar to a novice racquetball player that isn’t certain how the ball will bounce off the ceiling, floor, and four walls, and finds herself chasing the ball all over the court! An experienced player, on the other hand, simply moves, by what we might call wisdom or experience, to the spot where they know the ball will end up after it does all it all of its bouncing!

In order to get good “court sense,” a beginning racquetball player must put up with the difficulties of learning how the ball bounces; only then will they understand the ball’s nature and become relaxed and proficient. The player must face the problems through practice, however. If they try to take short cuts, they will never learn the intricacies of the game.

When we develop wisdom, problems go away. There are still things to do and figure out, but they no longer present themselves as tribulations. To acquire this wisdom is the tricky part, however; it involves either a lot of experience with the numerous things that can come up, or an intuitive wisdom that acts without having to study each new problem in depth. Intuitive wisdom just knows! Either way, life’s problems fade away and we shrug them off as if we have faced them a million times before, and know exactly what to do without the accompanying confusion and worry.

How to develop this wisdom is the question. We can never develop it by reading books about our problems; there are too many problems and not enough self help books — we need to actually experience the pain of one problem completely and not run away by diverting our attention. We cannot simply gloss over our problems quickly with temporary fixes as we have done in the past; we have to get to the nitty-gritty of our problems; we have to get to the root of the big problem.

When we do this, we begin to see a connection between the immediate problem and the big picture problem. What I am trying to say is that the immediate problem is only a tip of the iceberg of a greater problem, and until we solve the greater problem, the little ones will plague us forever. Until our minds become as clear as a child’s, (but with wisdom), we will fall into a trap of making quick fixes for symptoms, but never cure the basic disease.

Once we are able to see the utter straightforwardness of our problems, then all of our problems, big and small, will cease to cause difficulties; it is a matter of perception. Once we see the valley from the heights of the mountain, our experiences in the valley change forever because of that lofty perspective. Once we see that our problems cannot touch the real us, that nothing within existence can, then the problems are no longer problems at all, and only the next thing to be done. The peaks and valleys now level out, as our expectations and our tragedies moderate into a calm, ordinary, but never dull, life.

Life lived at this level is full of wonder; for every moment becomes a moment lived in eternity as we drop our shells of self. There is no longer a “me” against the world, because the world now becomes "me", and we become the world. Each problem becomes merely circumstances, none better or worse than those that came before or that will come after.

Existence is now seen for what it is; changing circumstances within a framework of time, and nothing more. And although the circumstances must be addressed, they no longer have a hold on our hearts.

Our hearts have flown away, to a place of which we cannot speak, but a place where the weight of the world is no more. And this is where we dwell.

And it all can begin and end with the simple practice of meditation.