BLOGGING

Suffering and resurrection

11 april 2023

'Semana Santa' the Holy week with the processions in Spain 2023.

This Good Friday I followed live the procession La Rompida de la Hora in Malaga. The solemn procession dedicated to the crucifixion of Jesus.

I found it impressive. A ritual that brings the population together in the evening in the streets of Spanish cities and villages.

The fraternities (organizations responsible for the processions) have their own buildings throughout the center. You can recognize these through their large doors in Malaga.

Whether you are religious or not, around these days, at the beginning of spring, suffering and new life are central.

I remember as a child that my father always put on the album with the Mattheus Passion. The music then reverberated throughout the House. My father, as an erudite and emotionally sensitive man, always exuded something gelatinous.

Now it is also a tradition for me that I take the time to consciously allow the suffering of myself, my loved ones and the world around me.

There is no man born who does not suffer. Life is clearly accompanied by various forms of pain.

I realized this in my fibers when I stood in front of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem a few years ago. Hundreds of women from all over the world gather at the women's section of the wall every day. I have heard them praying, crying, wailing, complaining, singing... I have seen them meditating or desperately expressing their suffering near the wall. What a pain for all these women. I could see the wall from there.
not seeing well.

A tradition at the Wailing Wall is that you write your heart's desire or prayer on a note and frummel it between the crevices of the stone wall.

I stood on my toes and pushed my piece of paper high into the wall somewhere in a sparse space.

Actually, there should be a wailing wall in every city. A place where we can all express our emotions without embarrassment, make our prayers heard. From this thought, the wish tree in the Heart House was created. A lamentation tree in the hall I found just a little too..

What about all the suffering in our lives?…

In Buddhism, the term dukkha is used for suffering. According to Buddhism, it is possible to bring an end to suffering, and this is also the main goal of the Buddha's teachings.

The Buddhists distinguish pain from suffering. In this paradoxical world there is pain. But we ourselves create suffering by cherishing the pain. Suffering, the Buddha said, comes from ignorance. Not recognizing our natural state of being, our Buddha nature. Because of the restrictions in our mind in which we become trapped.

Yet there are 2 gifts to be received from suffering: the deepening of our compassion in our hearts and the increase of our (life's)wisdom.

For me, these 2 qualities of the heart are the carriers in my life. They give me the opportunity to put my situation in a more loving and broader perspective when I am hurt or experiencing problems. This deepening makes problems lighter, rather than heavier.

There is a way out of suffering according to many spiritual traditions.

How nice it would be if every person would want to open up to this. When we as individuals do not take good care of our own pain and suffering, we automatically pass it on to subsequent generations and to our environment.

Hurt people hurt people..

Pain is also a catalyst for our heart.

Pain, sadness, suffering, trauma veil our joyful core.

There are deep painful wounds of disappointment that we all carry within us. Spiritual wounds are often more complicated to heal than the physical ones. They can pull you down into depression or a disillusionment with the world.

It works healing to let go of the external world for a while and to reflect on your inner balance. The Peace, your love and wisdom will heal you. Through your vulnerability and openness, you will receive the greatest lessons that will make you stronger!

When you continue to deny pain, you simultaneously deny more feelings, including the fine ones. Life wants to be lived and seen in every bit in order to flow.

The heart wants to be embraced and heard. Then you can heal, can heal your heart and open again.

Chakra psychology invites you to develop your Third Eye Center (Ajna chakra) with the development of your heart (Anahata-heart center). Thus, feelings and emotions can also be analyzed by Viveka, or discernment, instead of being approached with harsh (inner) criticism and (self)rejection. Love, compassion, wisdom and understanding solve problems and pain. Your heart-center helps your feelings expand into Infinity. And your Ajna chakra lifts them to a higher level of consciousness.

We humans are capable of a lot. Just as the body can physically heal from injuries, our heart is also capable of healing.

Bernie Siegal once said, " we grow strong in broken places." And so I also experience it when I look back on my wounds that have now become my wisdom.

In the contraction of the heart, opening and closing, we come to know God. We learn to accept and we move on. Enriched..deepened…

Because Jesus overcame death and rose again, death no longer has the last word. The resurrection of Jesus is a turning point.

Easter means new life, just like spring.

Every moment is given to us to make new choices and take different paths. To learn to look with loving eyes, at ourselves, our pain, our joy and at each other.

To remember that we are already forgiven and we are allowed to start again…

In love,

Dorien