we become a palm tree
The very principle we use here is happiness can only be seen and experienced from unhappiness.
Light cannot be seen without darkness.
Every experience here is being created by its opposite.
The joy of getting to the bottom of the cliff that held this view — it took a great amount of effort to get to. Precision of footing, active concentration, patience to climb down under the burning sun.
And as I reached the bottom, I ran out into the sand, I threw myself in the ocean to cool my heated skin, I laid under a palm tree to rest my tired body and mind. The joy of this experience became far more intense because I experienced its opposite.
No matter what we see, it is always a limited perception of what is. This is why the call for compassion is so important. The person who smiles has also experienced pain. If you look deeply, you’ll understand that there is an underlying current of subtle discomfort in everyone, whether loud or quiet, whether aware or unaware. Everyone — searching for a space to rest, a place to cool themselves off, a palm tree to lay under.
It is good to remember this when we make conclusions about who someone is or what their life may be like. Someone who smiles may be in a great deal of suffering. And someone who is continually unkind, has somewhere in their experience, been kind and capable of kindness. No one, one thing.
And so our task is to remember that this process of enduring and rejoicing is the process of life for everyone. We reach out and extend ourselves to those we make contact with. No matter what our present circumstances are we do what’s needed. If our present circumstances are not ideal, we learn to practice kindness with ourselves and those around us. If our circumstances are full of ease, we share the ease of our experience with others.
Our work will be done when there is no one else in need of help. Until then, we start where it matters most and where we can make the most impact. We practice kindness and thoughtfulness. We become a palm tree for someone else to rest under when they are most tired from what it is to live and endure. We remember that we may need someone to be a palm tree for us one day, and so we extend ourselves a little more because of it.
