May you be free from suffering

I mean you, the person who is reading this. Maybe you are one of my four subscribers. Maybe you are a family member who does not subscribe and I sent a link to. Maybe you are someone who got this from someone who got it from someone who thought it might help you.

Whatever.

I don’t care who you are. I don’t care that you are. Or when you are. Or where you are.

May you be free from suffering.

That’s it. That’s the message.

I don’t have a high expectation that this will do you any good, but who knows? Stranger things have happened.

This bit of writing might be precisely what you need to nudge you away from a little trough of suffering that you find yourself stuck in. Who knows?

Or you might be suffering greatly, and the weirdness of some guy who you never met sending this message into the vastness of the internet and its finding its way to you at this precise and critical moment might catapult you from suffering to serenity. Who knows?

Weirder things have happened. None come to mind, but I wouldn’t bet against weirdness. This universe is bizarre. So are the others, but never mind that.

It’s possible that you are not suffering now, and if you are not, good on you! But I wouldn’t bet against you suffering in some future moment. Indeed, without wishing you ill, I bet you will have at least some moments of suffering.

Here’s a suggestion. Save a link to this page. Or print this out and keep it handy. Or copy/paste it into an email and send it to yourself. Read it the next time you are suffering. Who knows? Maybe it will help. Weirder things have happened.

Like space-time transformation.

I’m right here, right now, writing this, and you are right here (a different here) and right now (a different now) reading this, and even though we may be separated by miles and years (or even light-years and eons), you might as well be right with me right now looking over my shoulder as I write this. I know at least one person reading this as I write this (hint: me). He is not suffering at the moment, but trust me, he will, and maybe he’ll read this, and he will--momentarily—be free.

So you can do the trick of time-and-space transformation and read this in another place and time and be free from suffering, if only momentarily.

Note: I am not saying “Don’t suffer” or “I hope you don’t suffer.” I am simply saying (and writing) this: “May you be free from suffering.” Free from suffering. Suffer all you need to suffer or want to suffer. Just be free from suffering.

Right now, as I am writing this, I am free from suffering. (Yay!)

It’s taken north of 13.75 billion years to get here to this place and this time (mine and yours), and that is astounding and miraculous.

For almost all of that time and in almost all of that space, there was and is no suffering. And if you think about that, it kind of sucks.

We were free from suffering because we did not exist. Now we exist (or at least you do. I might be long gone!), and we can appreciate sunny days and the love of friends and the beautiful music. And so much more.

And we can also suffer.

That might be the price we must pay for the pleasant and even joyful experiences that conscious beings can experience. But it might not be a necessary price. It might be that you and I can experience all these wonderful things and be free from suffering.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, whenever you are: may you be free from suffering.

Really. I am not kidding.