Editor,
It is reasonable to assume that what the Buddha became aware of while sitting under the Bodhi tree is that life is one unpredictable event after another, and how one deals with each new event as it unfolds determines the quality of one’s life.
It determines whether or not one is experiencing life and is happy, or if one is trying to avoid being part of life as it unfolds, and therefore is unhappy.
If one is experiencing life as it is, and is happy, one is fully receptive of each event as it unfolds and deals with each new unfolding event as one perceives to be doing what one can, wherever one is and with what one has. One in that case also leaves the rest of what is happening alone without trying to make it into what one thinks it should be.
If one is not experiencing life as it is, and is unhappy, one is not fully receptive of each event as it unfolds but is trying to alter each event to conform to one’s perception of what it should be.
This means that each of us is either aligned with life as it is and is able to enjoy life as it unfolds and is happy each moment of each day, or each one of us is separating from the natural unfolding of life by trying to make it different than it is and causing ourselves to be unhappy each moment of each day.
Robert Gardiner
Daily Lobo reader
