The talk

“Sit down, son. There’s something I want to tell you.”

“What’s that, dad?”

“Life is painful.”

Blue highways

Jesus talked about two roads. The road to destruction is easy and well-travelled. The road to life is hard with few travellers. Therefore, comfort is our enemy. There is no safety in numbers.

Suddenly sober

To know ourselves, we observe ourselves, especially when things go wrong, when we’re flushed and boiling. Life’s munificence guarantees that opportunities for self-knowing are many and various. Emotions observed are emotions detached from, stepped out of. Easy? Not exactly. It’s like sobering a drunk.

Colon therapy

The first of Richard Rohr’s Five Messages for Men is: Life is hard. The first of Buddha’s Four Noble Truths is: Life is suffering. The first sentence in Scott Peck’s bestselling “A Road Less Travelled” is: Life is difficult. So then: Loving life is welcoming what comes.

Degrees of difficulty

Change is hard. Suffering is harder.