Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States - Center for Action and Contemplation - Father Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation "Life is Hard AND 'My Yoke is Easy'" for Monday, 21 April 2014

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States - Center for Action and Contemplation - Father Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation "Life is Hard AND 'My Yoke is Easy'" for Monday, 21 April 2014
Hard and soft, difficult and easy, pain and ecstasy do not eliminate one another, but actually allow each other. 
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
"The Common Wonderful"
"Life Is Hard AND 'My Yoke Is Easy'”
Monday, 21 April 2014
The five positive messages of initiation, which I call “the common wonderful,” are a cosmic egg of meaning that will hold you, help you grow, and give you ongoing new birth and beginnings (i.e., resurrection). 
By cosmic egg, I mean your underlying worldview, your life matrix, and your energy field—that keeps you motivated each day. If it is true then it must be accessible from all directions, which is why I call it cosmic, and because it is life-giving, I call it an egg. It holds you together in a shell of meaning. 
Our cosmic egg operates largely subliminally, but very powerfully. It is more caught than taught. I find these messages in Jesus’ teaching, but there are similar messages in all the great traditions, especially from the Islamic mystics, the Hasidic Jews, and the Hindu holy men and women.
The first message of the common wonderful: It is true that life is hard, and it is also true, as Jesus said, that “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). 
Enlightened people invariably describe the spiritual experience of God as restful, peaceful, delightful, and even ecstatic. Seek joy in God and peace within yourself; seek to rest in the good, the true, and the beautiful. It will be the only resting place that will also allow you to hear and bear the darkness.
Hard and soft, difficult and easy, pain and ecstasy do not eliminate one another, but actually allow each other. They bow back and forth like dancers, although it is harder to bow to pain and to failure. You can bear the hardness of life and see through failure if your soul is resting in a wonderful and comforting sweetness and softness. Religious people would call this living in God.
Adapted from Adam’s Return: The Five Promises of Male Initiation, pages 152-155
Gateway to Silence: All shall be well.
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