世界的變形與內聖外王

我們開始意識到心靈清澈、滿懷感激、欣賞艷陽高懸天際，歌唱聽著鳥兒歌唱，正陶醉在生命所上演的奇蹟之時，忽然間我們不小心撞傷腳趾，在那疼痛的瞬間，整個世界頓時縮成我們那可憐的腳趾，你哪還記得剛剛上演美好的一切，現在。可能這一兩天走路會有些困難，每走一步，我們都會想起它~~可憐的腳趾頭。

到底是什麼「定義」了我們的日子？是行走時受傷的腳趾帶剌的疼痛感，還是仍然不斷發生的奇蹟？只因為放不下生活中這些芝麻綠豆小事就擾亂了我們的步調陷入悲慘的日子當中。

想當初我們總是心懷感激，並不把什麼當作理所當然時，感激有足夠的東西可以吃，感激自己健康才得以進食。但隨著日子一天天過去，曾幾何時我們短視到只注意這些無足輕重的事實，然後某一天發現自己坐在餐廳裡發火，只因為蛋沒有煎熟，或是肉餅不照我們喜歡的調味去做。

當我們窄化了視角，就處處都是問題。我們忘記自己曾經寂寞，夢想身邊能有一位伴侶相伴；我們忘記初次看見他人的美好是怎麼一回事；我們也忘了自己第一次被人欣賞、擁抱及傾聽的快意。一旦我們「看不見」了，我們就會為沒泡水的髒盤子留在碗槽裡而發脾氣，也會在半夜醒來因為另一伴扯走棉被而懊惱不已。

當你允許將瞬間的苦放大為一切，悲慘就在門口迎接著你。所以，每當感到不幸，我們必須透過傷口看得更寬廣。當我們被一根刺所戳，在移除它的過程中也務必記得：還有身體沒有碎裂、還有靈魂沒有碎裂、還有一整個世界沒有碎裂。

馬克.尼波 《每一天的覺醒》


“If peace comes from seeing the whole,
then misery stems from a loss of perspective.

We begin so aware and grateful. The sun somehow hangs there in the sky. The little bird sings. The miracle of life just happens. Then we stub our toe, and in that moment of pain, the whole world is reduced to our poor little toe. Now, for a day or two, it is difficult to walk. With every step, we are reminded of our poor little toe.

Our vigilance becomes: Which defines our day—the pinch we feel in walking on a bruised toe, or the miracle still happening?

It is the giving over to smallness that opens us to misery. In truth, we begin taking nothing for granted, grateful that we have enough to eat, that we are well enough to eat. But somehow, through the living of our days, our focus narrows like a camera that shutters down, cropping out the horizon, and one day we’re miffed at a diner because the eggs are runny or the hash isn’t seasoned just the way we like.

When we narrow our focus, the problem seems everything. We forget when we were lonely, dreaming of a partner. We forget first beholding the beauty of another. We forget the comfort of first being seen and held and heard. When our view shuts down, we’re up in the night annoyed by the way our lover pulls the covers or leaves the dishes in the sink without soaking them first.

In actuality, misery is a moment of suffering allowed to become everything. So, when feeling miserable, we must look wider than what hurts. When feeling a splinter, we must, while trying to remove it, remember there is a body that is not splinter, and a spirit that is not splinter, and a world that is not splinter.”


― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have
―Photo from Artist Andrew Ferez