Why Try?

A friend is in the midst of loss, and feels depressed. I assume that ultimately my friend will grow from the adversity, and this is the last thing he sees right now. He asked "What gives some people the drive to get up when they are knocked down?" I replied that I, and other people, come to the conclusion, usually after much self induced pain, that the only permanent alternative to what they are going through is death. So they wait for the end.

After a while it dawns that death hasn't arrived, there is no way of knowing when it will, and suicide is too cowardly. Or, if they (I) believe in a spiritual existence, that continued depression or suicide is too costly in terms of Karma, the journey of the soul or whatever ideas their beliefs support.

They are still in pain, only now the situation is worse than before, since they know there is no future in blaming, judging or being a victim. Since nothing is worse than what they have then, by extension, anything else has to be better. So they start to move.

Where they move to is immaterial, since anywhere is better than where they are at. And time proves this thesis to be correct. There is no reason why you or I "should" do anything. The conclusion of anything being better than what we have got has to be arrived at independently.

There are also lots of reasons for not arriving at the conclusion of "Anything is better than this." Such a move is threatening to one's ego. For a move to happen, denial and avoidance have to be given up, which means the ego yielding its power. The game of "This isn't happening" is a powerful blinder, where we force ourselves to see straight ahead instead of all around. Many times our good is off in the wings, waiting to be called to center stage. How can we call it on when we refuse to see it is there?

Getting up after a fall is not romantic. Trumpets don't blow, harps don't twang and angels don't rush to help us onto our feet. It seems like life stands back and waits to see what we will do; if we get up, life goes on with us, and if we don't, it goes on without us. From the ego's point of view, this is highly insulting.

By taking a spiritually mature view, we see that life is All Loving and Accepting in its existence, therefore it is loving us enough to let us do what we want. Not only this, it is loving enough to pause and see if we intend to get up or not. Since we are an integral part of life and hold a unique position in the universe, there really isn't a problem.

Why try? Only you can answer this question, dear reader. Believe you have the ability to get up when you are knocked down, and you have it. Believe you don't, and you won't.As Henry Ford said: "Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off your goal."

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