A friend of mine is sad today, mouring the loss of a loved one. Her whole family is affected. Emotions spread and touch those around us like ripples in a pond.
Grieving is process, yes it is sad. We get in touch with our own mortality and our own relationship with death and separation.
Attachment leads to suffering- the Buddhist teachings tell us. I think it is true , but how to deal with that ? Non- attachment , they say, is the answer- but how does that work ?
Loving what IS in the 'here and now' is the best way I've found up till now. Loving all our sorrows and our joys and being thankfull for our whole register of emotions. Playing on the whole of the piano keyboard , not just repeating a few notes.
" You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.
In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the sheered not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink form the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
Kahlil Gibran
OOOOOH I so love these last few lines .. they truly make my heart sing.