“life is glorious, but life is also wretched. it is both. appreciating
the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a
bigger perspective, energizes us. we feel connected. but if that's all
that's happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and
there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious
about it, wanting it to be like that forever. the gloriousness becomes
tinged by craving and addiction. on the other hand, wretchedness--life's
painful aspect--softens us up considerably. knowing pain is a very
important ingredient of being there for another person. when you are
feeling a lot of grief, you can look right into somebody's eyes because
you feel you haven't got anything to lose--you're just there. the
wretchedness humbles us and softens us, but if we were only wretched, we
would all just go down the tubes. we'd be so depressed, discouraged,
and hopeless that we wouldn't have enough energy to eat an apple. gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. one inspires us, the
other softens us. they go together.”
~ pema chödrön
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