The Meaning of Life Is to Breathe
El significado de la vida es respirar
A student shares that staying with the breath has become easier and more enjoyable after a long period of difficulty, and the teacher reflects on what this shift signifies.
The Meaning of Life Is to Breathe
A student shares that staying with the breath has become easier and more enjoyable after a long period of difficulty, and the teacher reflects on what this shift signifies.
It has become easier to stay with my breath. For a long time it was difficult for me to observe the breath. There was always this sensation of controlling it. But now, more and more, I enjoy staying with the breath. It is nice. I like it. It's not to say it's more true about the breath, but I've found a kind of enjoyment in staying with it. For a long time, though, it was difficult.
That's a really profound shift. Those simple things matter. Usually it's really hard to stay with the breath. It's uncomfortable because it brings you into the body, it brings up sensations and mind stuff, it triggers things. When we start enjoying the breath, that means something really deep has crossed a threshold, and from there it can just keep deepening: the celebration and joy of simply sitting and breathing.
What the breath points to
My teacher used to say something about this. He told me he always wondered about the meaning of life, and he had this curious process of tinkering with that question. He said that for a long time he concluded the meaning of life was to have fun, but that having fun is not easy. Then he arrived at something simpler. He said, "The truest meaning of life is to breathe." I'm paraphrasing him, but he repeated it to me quite often. I thought it was beautiful, because the breath is always happening. It's right here.
It's a bit like that. It's not possible to turn off the breath. Anything else can be turned off. I don't have any other questions.
Good. Enjoy it. And likely there will be waves where more discomfort, something a little challenging or difficult, comes back. Don't worry about it. Just expect that it might return, and that it will pass. There will simply be more sensations and thoughts to become intimate with.
What it feels like is that the world has gone.
Yes, that's very possible.
That's what I feel. The world has gone.
Yes, that's very possible.