Most of us imagine that the enlightened state will feel much better than pushing a rock! Have you ever awakened in the morning and muttered, "I don't even want to think about all the things I have to do today"? But life is as it is. And our practice is not about having life feel good, even though that's a very human hope. We all like things that make us feel good. We especially like partners who make us feel good. If our partner doesn't make us feel good, we assume that things have to be changed, that he or she needs to change! Because we are human we think that feeling good is the aim of life. But if we simply push our current boulder and practice being aware of what goes on with us as we push, we slowly transform.
... the benefits to ourselves are incidental. The real point of practice is to serve life as fully and fruitfully as we can. . .
. . In other words, the center of our life is shifting from a preoccupation with ourselves to life itself. Life includes us, of course; we haven't been eliminated in the second viewpoint. But we're no longer the center. Practice is about moving from the first to the second viewpoint.
The Talk Nobody Wants to Hear page 59
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