Day Two Hundred and Sixty nine

I sit with imperatives tonight. Although there are wars, death, overdose and their effects, and so nearby, I am not swayed from practice. At the social end of the continuum there is practice for the sake of all beings, directly, the practice of metta. Not being separate, I feel pain from the suffering in others. Knowing that, I cannot fool myself into being elsewhere. I let go and light enters unexpectedly, in the middle of pain, in the middle of sorrow. It is not the light of contrast, it is clarifying and warm, moves in every hurt place. It must be so.

At the personal end of being, I concentrate for the sake of all beings, and for the benefit of myself. I must know what I can and cannot bear, or I shall not fulfill the duty of this place. I relate to stress, carve myself a drinking cup with three deep marks.