Wiccan Weekly Writings are first, an opportunity for me to talk about ideas brought up by various quotations from a Wiccan point of view and secondly an opportunity for members of this community, whatever their spiritual path or lack thereof, to enter into dialogue about these ideas. Please feel free to ask any questions you have about my path, my personal interpretation of Wiccan theology, or the religion in general. We Wiccans don't proselytize, but we'll answer questions. Please let this be a place of civility and respect for the truths of other people's paths. And now, onto the thinky thoughts....
"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."--Buddhist proverb.
Pain is what the world inflicts upon us. Suffering is our emotional reaction when we fail to make the difficult conscious decision to choose Joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I read the story of another chronic patient the other day, and realized that she and I don't see our illness...and maybe our lives, the same way. My approach, not only to the experience of chronic illness but to life in general, may be summed up by that quote. If I submerge myself in just being there and acknowledging the pain, while refusing to grant it any more of my consciousness than it requires, I can find room to live around it. Suffering is no fun. It's unproductive.
Now, I'm not a bodhisattva or a saint. I have times where I am curled on the bed chanting the universal mantra "fuck fuck fuck ah fuck" while seeing, feeling, nothing but pain. I sometimes suffer. But this suffering does not define me. What does, then? I had to think about that for a moment. I think participation and compassion would about cover it.
Life is a full-contact, participatory sport that we are all playing. I participate as fully as I can; the writing of this essay, despite the pain that my forefoot is currently in is part of that. I don't hike; that's unrealistic on this foot at this point. But I'll happily go camping, relax in a chair at the campsite and read, and make sure supper's ready for the hikers when they come back. And I am reminded that that's a necessary thing, too. And compassion....I am to be understanding of the pain of others. The way it can be all-encompassing, the way it can limit and distort vision, the way it can cause despair.... as it sometimes can for me. Even when it causes me pain, even when it results in cruelty... I am to understand. Perfect love and perfect trust, we Wiccans say. In the end, it all comes to that for me.