I read this passage in the book I am currently reading. It really spoke to me. This may or may not resonate with you and I respect all religious/spiritual views. I am just sharing this because I really like the book.
"The Buddha began in the same place where you begin. So did I. The nature of suffering does not change. You have not been given a special handicap, nor were you given fewer abilities. There is no difference between you and Buddha, or between Buddha or I. You are pure being. The Buddha is pure being. You struggle with identification with form. So did the Buddha. So did I. We are all tested. We all build on quicksand and get sucked down into the muck of conditioned existence. But we are not the conditioned. We are the lotus swimming on the murky surface of the pond. We are the awareness, the profound discovery that grows out of the darkness of conditions. We are the white flower, nurtured by those murky waters. If you are looking for beauty without sadness, you will not find it. If you are looking for celebration without the poignancy of pain, you will search in vain. All that is transcendent comes from the lowly, the light from the dark, the flower from the mud. Give up your linear thinking, your rigid, left-brain expectations of what spirituality means. Life is not one-dimensional. If you are looking for the absolute, you must find it wherever you look. If the absolute is truly absolute, then there is no place where it is not found. Don't choose one side of the argument. Learn to take both sides and work toward the middle. Both extremes reflect each other. Those who are in conflict share the same lesson. There is only one way to freedom. Buddha called it the Middle Way, the way between all extremes. You can't get there by taking sides. You can't get there by choosing the good over the bad, or the light over the dark. Your path goes through the place where good and evil cross, where the light is obstructed, casting long shadows. There are no maps that take you to this place. If you ask one person, he says, 'Go to the right.' If you ask another, he says, 'Go to the left.' If you ask the pessimist where you can find truth, he will say, 'It was here yesterday. You missed it.' If you ask the optimist, he will reply: 'It will be here tomorrow.' Who gives the correct answer? Is there, in fact, a correct answer? Or is the expectation of a correct answer itself the illusion? When you can observe the argument without taking sides, when you can be in the middle of the battleground without attacking anyone, then you have arrived in the place where the lotus blooms. Few will notice you, but it will not matter. You have come home. You have slipped through the veil. You are no longer an object blocking the light, but the window through which it passes. Can you imagine being a window that lets in the light, a window that shuts out the cold and opens to let in the fresh air? Can you imagine being so flexible and useful at the same time? No longer imprisoned in a role, you are glad to be of help. No longer seeking, you are happy to point the way. When someone asks, 'Which way to the divine?' you answer, 'Any way will do.' You know that the outcome doesn't matter. Only being present on the journey, moment to moment matters. Between now and then, between this and that, the Buddha dwells."
- From Reflections Of The Christ Mind by Paul Ferrini (pages 119-20)
"The Buddha began in the same place where you begin. So did I. The nature of suffering does not change. You have not been given a special handicap, nor were you given fewer abilities. There is no difference between you and Buddha, or between Buddha or I. You are pure being. The Buddha is pure being. You struggle with identification with form. So did the Buddha. So did I. We are all tested. We all build on quicksand and get sucked down into the muck of conditioned existence. But we are not the conditioned. We are the lotus swimming on the murky surface of the pond. We are the awareness, the profound discovery that grows out of the darkness of conditions. We are the white flower, nurtured by those murky waters. If you are looking for beauty without sadness, you will not find it. If you are looking for celebration without the poignancy of pain, you will search in vain. All that is transcendent comes from the lowly, the light from the dark, the flower from the mud. Give up your linear thinking, your rigid, left-brain expectations of what spirituality means. Life is not one-dimensional. If you are looking for the absolute, you must find it wherever you look. If the absolute is truly absolute, then there is no place where it is not found. Don't choose one side of the argument. Learn to take both sides and work toward the middle. Both extremes reflect each other. Those who are in conflict share the same lesson. There is only one way to freedom. Buddha called it the Middle Way, the way between all extremes. You can't get there by taking sides. You can't get there by choosing the good over the bad, or the light over the dark. Your path goes through the place where good and evil cross, where the light is obstructed, casting long shadows. There are no maps that take you to this place. If you ask one person, he says, 'Go to the right.' If you ask another, he says, 'Go to the left.' If you ask the pessimist where you can find truth, he will say, 'It was here yesterday. You missed it.' If you ask the optimist, he will reply: 'It will be here tomorrow.' Who gives the correct answer? Is there, in fact, a correct answer? Or is the expectation of a correct answer itself the illusion? When you can observe the argument without taking sides, when you can be in the middle of the battleground without attacking anyone, then you have arrived in the place where the lotus blooms. Few will notice you, but it will not matter. You have come home. You have slipped through the veil. You are no longer an object blocking the light, but the window through which it passes. Can you imagine being a window that lets in the light, a window that shuts out the cold and opens to let in the fresh air? Can you imagine being so flexible and useful at the same time? No longer imprisoned in a role, you are glad to be of help. No longer seeking, you are happy to point the way. When someone asks, 'Which way to the divine?' you answer, 'Any way will do.' You know that the outcome doesn't matter. Only being present on the journey, moment to moment matters. Between now and then, between this and that, the Buddha dwells."
- From Reflections Of The Christ Mind by Paul Ferrini (pages 119-20)