My Buddhist Priest friend Robert called me last evening and while on the call we talked about what I’ve been going through lately. He seemed so happy for me that I was having a difficult time. He kept saying, “That’s it!” when I told him of some of the difficulties. I guess his point is that these difficult places are the reasons that we meditate, the things we hope will arise so that we can see the falseness of it all. I actually haven’t meditated in nearly two weeks, since I hurt my back. When I told him about that he said, “That’s convenient,” and I had to laugh, because it is… I really didn’t want to sit at all because of the fear of the panic/anxiety/pain that could arise. Here’s the sweet part….. he made a date to meditate with me for this morning where we would each sit in our own place and be with each other at the same time. That was real support, support in moving forward into the storm. I just finished meditating, and I had to lie down for the duration because it was still difficult for my back to sit in any sort of posture for much of an extended time at all. While lying there, it felt at times like he was holding my hand. It’s amazing what a little support can do. The meditation was great. I actually got to see my mind doing its thing and be able to separate myself from it. Sitting seems to have deactivated my mind’s power to instill fear in me, at least for the moment.
So I’m seeing an important distinction of the aspect of Support, that the dimension of supporting someone in facing the difficult parts of life is deeply valuable. It’s great to support people when times are difficult, and I’m not knocking that at all, in fact I treasure that, but there’s something about support in facing the storm which has a very different value than helping to build shelter to shield from the storm. Thanks Robert.