14/06/24

I really have no idea where the time went this year and why this is only my second post of the year. I’m legit about to feign dissociative fugue or a depersonalization episode cause??? But, I think it’s safe to say though, that no matter how the year has been going for you, you’ve grown a lot, you’ve done a lot and you’ve survived a lot. 

Luck and misfortune have kept the scales balanced but then again, there’s no such thing as luck anyways, is there? Luck is just the product of opportunity meets preparation. And misfortune? Well, no one wants to dissect and rationalize its sinistrality, right?

Suffering is so sinister. It’s so unbearable and it causes so much horror and trauma and leaves behind broken hearts, lives and souls even after it’s been a while since it passed by. One way or another, suffering is the theme of most conversations these days. With wars, rumours of wars and restless energy engulfing the planet one territory at a time, with scary numbers and even scarier realisations of how each of these numbers in the everyday statistics represent lives and souls stolen by senseless violence, ours is a dystopian society of our own making. 

While one side of the world is covered in blood, another side is watching from expensive high resolution screens and dropping commentary, awareness and support in every way they can, only to switch said screens off and go about a “normal” and “safe” day, not to be bothered by the horrors again unless they wish to engage. We have become the dystopian societies we used to watch in teenage movies when we were in high school. 

The rest of the world is spectating while parts of the world act as The Capitol, forcing certain territories into the fxcking Hunger Games of our age. It’s so heartbreaking, and if I had never made it clear before, I stand with Palestine, Congo, and Kenya. I stand with the people who are being persecuted for conflicts they never had a hand in creating, or still being persecuted for conflicts that their forefathers died trying to extinguish. My heart bleeds for every lost life, every vanished soul and every empty heart. 

Wherever you are right now, if you can, do take a moment of silence and meditation. I don’t know how we’ll help the suffering or how peace will be restored (if ever), and that makes me really sad. 

Without much further ado, this Pearl has four Wisdoms to share with you today. I’ve been meditating and working upon understanding and accepting them with gratitude and compassion since I met them. It’s been tough. It’s really five Wisdoms though - or just four. Well, the four really sum up to understanding the one: suffering. Let’s dissect this monster. 

 The Four Noble Truths 

In response to many questions about life, Siddhartha Gautama left behind a set of teachings called the four noble truths. In these teachings, the Buddha outlines that the nature of life is suffering, that suffering comes from desire due to ignorance of this nature, that suffering can be alleviated and the path to follow in this pursuit. Though they really, in my opinion, leave a lot unexplained, the four noble truths are essentially a plan of action on how to navigate life in the world as insufferable as it naturally is. 

1. Suffering

We are called and advised to understand that that life is very difficult and that it is no sin nor wrong to call this spade a spade. There is no lack of gratitude in admitting this truth. Life is difficult. It is its nature. The fact that life is difficult, is a suffering on its own. We suffer initially because life is in truth difficult. 

We need to accept this truth. Life is not supposed to be easy or a walk through the park. The fairness of life is that it is unfair to everyone in its own way. It was never meant to be all gold and roses. If it was, there’d be no point in Nirvana/heaven or the beliefs that we associate with the afterlife.

2. The cause of suffering

In Buddhism, desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied. As a result, desiring them can only bring suffering. Ignorance, in comparison, relates to not seeing the world as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental concentration and insight, Buddhism explains, one's mind is left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true nature of things. Vices, such as greed, envy, hatred and anger, derive from this ignorance. 

3. We can become free of suffering 

The Third Noble Truth carries a dual significance. It implies the cessation of suffering either within this earthly life or within the spiritual realm by attaining Nirvana. Attainment of Nirvana signifies reaching a transcendent state devoid of suffering and liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth. This attainment marks the pinnacle of spiritual enlightenment. The Buddha believes that suffering can indeed be endured, not necessarily avoided. And that its endurance can become so secondary a nature, that it feels like an avoidance of the monster itself. 

4. The path to liberation

This is an eight-step system that signifies the path to unlearning the causes of suffering, and therefore liberating oneself from suffering. The eight steps are: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. Moreover, there are three themes into which the Path is divided: good moral conduct (Understanding, Thought, Speech); meditation and mental development (Action, Livelihood, Effort), and wisdom or insight (Mindfulness and Concentration).

 The moral of the story 

Earlier on, I mentioned that I feel like the truths left a lot unsaid, and for one to actually deeply understand, accept and practice these teachings, one has to do a deep personal introspection coupled with a lot of literature related to mindfulness. But the Geist of it all is above. 

In the world that I wake up in today, it has been difficult to apply the truths to every situation because, for example, in as much as I can sympathise with the fact that life may be lost because humans are not immortal, I can’t quite grasp why life should be stolen from others, especially those who hadn’t even become. As much as I can accept that I myself can find ways to be happy and content all the time, someone else somewhere has narry a penny let alone a roof over their head. 

I feel like, I can accept the truths for myself but it’s hard to apply them to the horrors of life across all of humanity and sentience. I don’t know if that makes sense. The truths really did liberate a lot of pain inside me, but I wonder how I would try to share them in a way that would in fact liberate the same in someone else without seeming tone deaf. I don’t know.

 I Do remember… 

When I first met The Four Noble Truths, I coupled them with a different set of teachings called The Five Remembrances, and that helped me a lot. Spiritual growth is like self therapy. You have to break everything you thought you knew about yourself down, and rebuild it with brand new knowledge and then just hope for the best. They are stated as follows:

I am of the nature to grow old. I cannot escape old age.

I am of the nature to grow ill. I cannot escape sickness.

I am of the nature to die. I cannot escape death.

I will be separated from everything and everyone I hold dear. I cannot prevent this from happening.

My only true possession is my actions.

Maybe spiritual growth is all about learning how to suffer, because even though the remembrances helped me, I accepted their truth while tears were streaming down my face. The truth about life really hurts before you learn that impermanence is a gift that keeps on giving. Honestly, it hurts all the while, but it’s way more tolerable. 

I can’t believe it has come to this. I really wish we could agree on a way to call truce in every one of these conflicts because no one is coming to save our world. We need to do it ourselves. However, where does one even begin?

Thanks for reading <3 

Don’t forget to say a prayer for the world today <3