Suffering meant feelings of anger, fear, intolerance and false hope, as well as bodily pain. These were man’s enemies, rather than other people. But just as such suffering was inevitable, so too it could be ended: by right action, right thinking, right understanding, and by mindfulness, or full self-awareness. Human beings had to embrace the present moment, looking neither forward nor past, and deal with things as they were. In everyday life he matched his walking to his breathing, as if every step was an awakening to peace and his feet were kissing the earth; he saw an orange as a miracle, slowly coloring and forming for him under sun and rain; as he cleaned a pot he did so tenderly, as if bathing a holy child.
To the sceptics mindfulness seemed ludicrous, an exercise in self-absorption. To him it was the reverse, a clearing away of the hindrances of “self” in order to love others.
The Economist
Obituary| The time is now
Majicman Notes 
Leave a comment