Wednesday, February 27, 2008

I was thinking this morning that a good definition of ‘paradise’ would be ‘a place where there is never a struggle’. If I never had to resist, fight back, push, or thrash around, I would be definitely living in paradise. Life would flow naturally and harmoniously at all times, and, being a part of life, I would flow peaceably along with it. Struggle would be nowhere because serenity would be everywhere. What’s a little shocking about this is that, by this definition, paradise can exist for me in every single present moment. If I could simply learn to give up all resistance to the present moment – to stop struggling and just accept each moment – I would live in absolute peace. There would be no striving and wrestling with life, because there would always be an unadulterated and undemanding acceptance of whatever’s happening. This doesn’t mean I would personally ‘like’ whatever’s happening – just that I would be at peace with it. I would accept it, and thus all struggles would cease.

Moment after moment, that would be paradise.

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