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Veritas said:
The middle.  The meantime.  The journey.  The process.

Whatever we call it, few seem to see it as more than something to endure/transcend/avoid/shorten/distract themselves from.

But what if the middle is IT?

What if the meantime is all the time we're going to get?

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Veritas said:
I watch self-help devotees dive in to the "book of the month," certain that this program, this religion, this meditation practice, is the one they have been waiting for.  This time, they will pull the "Advance to Go" card, skip all this muck and misery, and collect their spiritual $200.

Lovers go into relationships in the same way.  This one, this perfect one, will save me from myself.  This love will elevate me above the daily struggle, resolve my self-doubts, fulfill all my longings, and finally get me to where I've been going.  Heaven is one kiss away. 

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Tao Te Ching: 44. Contentment
Health or reputation: which is held dearer?
Health or possessions: which has more worth?
Profit or loss: which is more troublesome?

Great love incurs great expense,
And great wealth incurs great fear,
But contentment comes at no cost.
For who knows when to stop
Does not continue into danger,
And so may long endure.

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Veritas said:
Perhaps that faith in the "magic pill," in whatever form, is essentially human.  We long for a short cut, a light at the end of the tunnel, because we want to believe we are special.

What if we're not special?  What if everyone is signed up for the same basic life experience components, with a few variations in the details, and it is up to us to either reject or enjoy it?

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Veritas said:
As for me, my intention is to start living the middle.  Accept that there may be no "there" there, no finish line, no victory dance.  Learn to handle the middle with more skill, more love, more delight in the reality of the present.  Seems sensible to me.

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Transcending the pain and misery and much of our day to day existence requires true change that must come from within.

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But what if there is no transcendence?  What if there are different states in which we experience the middle, but no "above" or "beyond" the pain and misery, no "escape" from the mundane?

My point is that we may be distracting ourselves from reality by focusing on the carrot on a string...somewhere out there is what we want, not this pain, not this misery, not this struggle.  If only we can endure, if only we can rise above, then we'll be content.

But what if all our efforts to rise above just keep us walking in circles, muddling around at the beginning of the middle?  What if watching that imaginary carrot prevents us from seeing the glowing beauty of reality?

Moreover, what if the middle contains ALL of the soulful, mind-blowing, heavenly experience we long for, if only we stopped running away long enough to notice?

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Veritas said:
My point is that we may be distracting ourselves from reality by focusing on the carrot on a string...somewhere out there is what we want, not this pain, not this misery, not this struggle. If only we can endure, if only we can rise above, then we'll be content.

But what if all our efforts to rise above just keep us walking in circles, muddling around at the beginning of the middle? What if watching that imaginary carrot prevents us from seeing the glowing beauty of reality?

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