Between Present and Prickly

   I have been hearing recently in the news that the coming winter will be as cold in Toronto as it has been warm during the summer. People are already starting to brace themselves for the weather, and I notice a change in activity tonight: boarding the late night bus and finding it to be empty. Has summer already 'declared bankruptcy' and closed its doors, I wonder?
    When I think about the spiritual path, I realize that there is simply no guarantee that one will ever emerge from pain. Life is simply full of pain, often unpredictable in cases, and I find that it is best not to try to reach a state where there is no pain of any kind. Such a state would be a little bit like trying to manipulate the natural world, which is what we are in fact doing but with little benefit to ourselves. In much the same way, the effort to 'overcome' pain by becoming more comfortable or being able to predict everything in advance, is bound to hit bumps. One can even see the current global climate change as the result of an effort to try to manipulate conditions of life so that they are most conducive to human convenience and comfort. Whenever there is a plus in this direction, there is always going to be a consequence which is often not anticipated.
     In fact, I believe that the essence of spiritual practice, particularly with meditation, is to learn to love the sorrow and mistakes--as much as one loves the sweet things in life. Perhaps one can even say that sweetness is a kind of practice in loving sorrow. Once a person has tasted the sweetness of kindness, they can then extend this kindness to less pleasant things. Is it any coincidence that in my walk today, there was an intersection called "Pleasant Avenue and Cactus"? I think this very street name is a kind of symbol. It represents how pleasant has to meet with pain to see how it can integrate pain into its smooth contours. Or, another way of looking at it is to say: grace needs to be challenged, because it's the nature of grace to open its doors to every kind of experience or sensation, no matter what it happens to be.