Unless you were born into wealth, life is a challenge. Hell, even IF you were born into wealth, life is a challenge. And one of the biggest challenges faced by someone with wealth is that they seldom appreciate it by virtue of having lived with it for so long. Most of us, myself included, would be inclined to tell those who claim that money doesn’t buy happiness, that we’d like to figure that out for ourselves. But i digress… The point is that we generally tend to take what we already have for granted. Let’s take running water, for example. Most people in the Western world have running water in their homes and functional sewage. We use these things without thought and appreciation for what a luxury those things truly are. But a quick visit to an impoverished country would wake us to the realities of how well we really have it.
Unfortunately, even if we had all the riches in El Dorado, we’d no doubt encounter something at some point in one’s life that will get us down. An important part of life is to recognize that we cause our own suffering. That’s one of the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha Dharma. But outside of this, there will always be obstacles that make a seemingly good life seem difficult. I’ve come to acknowledge this more than ever before, with some of what’s happened to me in recent years. But it is incumbent on me to do whatever may be necessary to right those wrongs and eliminate the suffering from my life. Such responsibility belongs to all of us. A brief food for thought… ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 