Remembering what we are up against....

"Half the spiritual life consists of remembering what we are up against and where we are going."

- Ayya Khema

Shouldn't the spiritual path be all peace, fluffiness and light. I wish. But it is the struggle as much as anything, it seems, that provides the momentum for insight, growth and inspiration. Buddha's definition of life as suffering nails it to the floor...and there's not many who'd want to dispute this.

My first forays towards "enlightenment" were chemically induced, as part of the psychedelic revolution. And I guess I've always had a hankering for the instant bliss of LSD - my memory conveniently blanking the bad psychotic trips. Born into a consumer society, why would the idea of enlightenment in a tablet feel like a foreign notion?

Alas, the hindsight of what wisdom I have remembers that I was on the road to chemical dependency so I pulled the plug on drugs...and have been using my own neurosis, stupidity and ignorance to guide me on...

Coming to the point of realising I know nothing - brings me to a reluctant acceptance of what the universe has to offer me...and that in turn can lead to gratitude...and then to some serenity...