Daily Meditation: Friday, January 22, 2010

Theatre - an image of life

01/22/2010

Earthly existence is only appearance and illusion. This is why, when faced with difficulties and tests, you should tell yourself, 'This isn't really happening to me, it's happening to someone else... I don't know who, but anyway it isn't me. I'm invulnerable, I'm only an onlooker.' Take the example of an actor in the theatre. Every evening, he performs in a play where his mortal enemy pours poison into his glass, and he dies. But if you were to meet him after the show in the pub on the corner, you would see him having a quiet drink with his assassin, not a bit worried that he may have poured poison into his glass again. So, why do we not understand that, allowing for differences, the same comedies are being played out in daily life? Instead of taking certain unpleasant situations so seriously, tell yourself, 'Oh well! It's just a play, and when it's over I'll see things differently.' If you get used to reasoning like this, you will no longer be so affected by the unpleasant situations you have to endure.