Sunday Sermon [The Full Catastrophe]

¡Hola! Everybody...
Americans work to damned hard! People? When you’re freakin’ dying, I guarantee you will not be overcome with regret for not spending more time at the office. I need to move to Europe or some shit like that...

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-=[ The Full Catastrophe ]=-

Am I not a man? And is not a man stupid? I’m a man. So I married. Wife, children, house, everything. The full catastrophe.

-- Zorba the Greek

Those of you familiar with the author, Nikos Kazantzakis, are probably familiar with this quote. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MSBR) Clinic named one of his best books on the subject of using Buddhist mindfulness meditation to address stress, “Full Catastrophe Living.”

It’s an interesting proposition: using all of life -- the good, the bad, and the ugly -- as grist for the mill. I hear too many people talking about how they want to remove “negativity” from their lives. I question the notion to ignore/ remove at least 50% of your life. Actually, I’ve tried this and I’m here to tell you that living in a sensory deprivation environment (otherwise known as solitary confinement -- true story), is not all it’s geared to be.

I mean, I’m not saying we go out of our way to create or engage “negativity,” but why turn away from it? Why not use it? For those that garden, turning away from the perception of negativity is a lot like refusing to use manure, or compost to cultivate your garden. And what is negativity anyway? Sadly, negativity is oftentimes some shit or someone you don’t like. And no matter how much you try to turn away from negativity, everywhere you go, there you are -- with all your own negative baggage. If you perceive it as merely negative, whatever it is, then no amount of turning away will do away with negativity because you are creating the perception of negativity in the first place.

Check this out: every situation, properly perceived, becomes an opportunity to heal. That means negative situations too. No, it doesn’t mean it will all be pleasant and the sun will be shining all the fuckin time. What? Didn’t you get the memo?!! Santa Claus doesn’t exist and life is tough sometimes. Sorry to break it down in such a cold manner. LOL Honestly, I see a lot of unrealistic expectations from the adults of the world. It seems many of us actually believe spending our lives running from unpleasant feelings and clinging pleasant ones is a viable life strategy.

It isn’t...

People will disappoint you, the fates will conspire to fuck up your plans, your kids will sometimes never appreciate your sacrifices and not all women will allow me to screw them in the ass.

And??

Shit, I just watched the hot new Shakira video and I’m really upset the bitch got all freakin skinny! What happened to the really curvy Shakira?!! You can play the marimba on her fuckin ribs! I mean, she still gotta lil bootie, but she must not be hangin’ out with Latino/as because she would be force-fed in Columbia, Puerto Rico, or almost any other Latin American country! But all that is not going to ruin my day...

Shit happens and she doesn’t even answer my calls.

I’m not saying I should deny my feelings. I am actually saying we all should do the opposite: feel your feelings completely. Feel the full catastrophe of your life. What happens to anger, sadness, fear, hate, and envy, lust when you stop trying to categorize / analyze them and just fuckin feel them? What happens when you invite the negative as well as the positive and embrace both as a mother would embrace both a good and bad child? I’ll tell you what happens: you become free as you are healed and made whole.

All healing is essentially letting go of fear. Playing the run-around game based on your likes and dislikes is in reality fear-based living. Try it one day: stay with the hurt without giving in the compulsion to attach a story to it. What we often do is we substitute neurosis for suffering and that just makes it all a lot more painful. Add stress to pain and you have suffering. Let me break that down:

pain + stress = suffering.

I think that’s also a good formula for neurosis.

All healing is actually a release from the past. Now here’s where it gets a little tricky. People will rightfully point out that there is a process that leads to letting go, that leads to grief. The thing is this: how many times must you do the process before you start getting it without having to go through all the stages?

Suffering, my friends, is optional.

Love,

Eddie