Yes my friend it hurts
Life hurts
In fact it can be excruciating
Agony, to the bone suffering,
There is no escaping pain
Except by denying it
Or numbing ourselves to it
But neither strategy actually works
The pain just gets deflected or buried

No, life hurts, that’s just the basic truth
Even spirituality won’t help you
Although it may offer the carrot
Of a painless life
And if you want a detached existence
Whereby the human experience
With its inherent pain
Is turned away from
So be it

But still it will hurt

No my friend, the only way is through,
The only choice is to open so wide
To sacrifice all resistance to life
So that the pain, the causes of pain,
The suffering, the grief, even the rage and fury
Are all included in that opening
Without identifying with any of it

That is the art of the deepest acceptance of life
And all that comes with it

A beautiful, excruciating, ecstatic, annihilating,
Maddening, confusing, overwhelming, existence
That brings us to our knees.

Image by 5933179 from Pixabay