Problems

Photo via Pixels thank you Artem Podrez

“There is no such thing as a problem. If it can be fixed it’s not a problem, if it can’t be fixed it’s not a problem. There is no such thing as a problem.” Anon.

“All problems are illusions of the mind.” Eckhart Tolle

“So now we have split life into two divisions—over here and over there. In the Bible this is called “being banished from the Garden of Eden.” The Garden of Eden is a life of unbroken simplicity. We all chance upon it now and then. Sometimes after sesshin [Week long Zen Meditation] this simplicity is very obvious, and for a while we know that life is not a problem. But most of the time we have an illusion that life over there is presenting us with a problem over here. The seamless unity is split (or seems to be). And so we have a life harried by questions: “Who am I? What is life? How can I fix it so I can feel better?” We seem surrounded by people and events that we must control and fix because we feel separate.” Brackets mine

Charlotte Beck, Everyday Zen, Harper Collins. Kindle Edition.

I once mentioned this to a good friend and she seemed shocked. A couple days later she said it was so boring. This was the same conclusion she had to the idea of living in the moment.

Can you find any problems in this instant? The place of no future and no past.

My wife after returning from her dog walking this morning, said there was no one out. The streets were deserted, like we were the last two people on earth. “What would you buy,” she said? Well we could go to the store and get anything we wanted. What would you get? She repeated? I couldn’t think of anything except for food and water. What would be the point? After a short while all our support systems would come to a halt and even after a year or two of scavenging and wandering about???

There would be no problems.

What about death? You may ask. If we don’t die of loneliness the inevitable must come at last. No Problem.

An interesting sense of peace has come over me.

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Jn 14:27