Thank God for Buddhism. Facing cosmic absurdity, I’ve learned to laugh back. When I can separate myself from my own story-line, I always find it interesting that I assume there is a right way to do anything…a secret right way.
Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun and one of wisest people in the Western World, talks about the importance of “befriending who we already are”. She says that making friends with ourselves is one of the essential goals of meditation and spiritual practice, more important than any other kind of transformation.
This goes against the grain of our American culture, which pushes us to always perfect ourselves, has us convinced that there’s a better version of ourselves to transform into. It also goes against the grain of much of the self-help, conscious living movement—too many of its Americanized teachings use the idea that there is something wrong with us to persuade us to change.
