TWO WISE TEACHERS

Many  years ago, a good friend was dealing with considerable pain and fear, and I can still recall being deeply impressed by his attitude toward these enemies that all of us have faced. Actually, he told me he tried not to consider them as enemies, but rather simply as conditions that had come along in his life – conditions he wasn’t able to avoid and may as well try to get to know and understand and – who knows –maybe even appreciate. He told me he tried to think of the pain and fear as teachers, and he said they might be the best teachers he had ever had. He said he was even grateful, in a strange sort of way, for their presence in his life, for he had spent many years in -- as he put it -- a closet of anxiety and closed-mindedness, and this pain and fear might force the doors of his life open. For one thing, he thought it might open him to a greater awareness of the pain and fear that billions of people are feeling at any given moment. His situation, as he put it, would make him a member of the vast community of sufferers on our planet. He said he had high hopes for his journey with pain and fear as he looked ahead to what he would be learning from these two ancient and wise teachers. He said that when the pain or fear arrived, he would try to say, “Welcome. Please come in. I will do my best to be a good student.”