See roses where there are roses, thorns where there are thorns.”

-Lama Surya Das

The first step on the Eightfold Path is Right View. Right View connects the Four Noble Truths to the Eightfold Path, because the way to achieve Right View is to understand the Four Noble Truths themselves. So in this introductory post, I want to talk about the first noble truth, which is the truth of suffering.

And the truth of suffering is this: everyone suffers. Suffering is part of every single human life that ever existed and ever will exist. We will never see the world through the lens of a Right View if we cannot accept this.

Of course we recognize the most obvious faces of suffering: death, pain, illness, tragedy, injustice. Suffering in this sense is everywhere. But when we look closer, we also find that suffering exists even in our joys and happiness. When we have our best vacation ever, it comes to an end. You go on a great first date, and it ends, never to be repeated again. You find the car/house/job of your dreams but then you spend your time, money, and energy keeping it. Recognizing the suffering in our joy isn’t meant to be a way of throwing a pessimistic wet blanket over us to ruin our day. It’s just…the truth.

Right View refuses to see the world only through rose-colored glasses. Right View demands that we see ALL of it, the good and the bad, all mixed up together and inseparable, forever intermingled in our human experience. It is the ability to see roses where there are roses, and thorns where there are thorns.

I’ve heard this teaching for years, and I admit, for a very long time, I found this so negative. Why can’t we say the First Noble Truth is that we have basic human goodness? Why can’t we start with the good stuff? But now, I’m honestly relieved. It is a relief to be asked to be honest about the real state of things in the world, and not flinch at the answer. It’s the only place we can really start, because unless we can see the roses and the thorns, we won’t be much good for any of it.

Also, I have a feeling that the First Noble Truth is exactly what we need to ponder today. So many live stuck in what the Buddha called conditioned existence, living a life of superficial habits, and being mostly unaware of it. Another word for this is samsara, which literally means perpetual wandering. Here we are, these beautiful creatures of potential and goodness, wandering around asleep and unaware. Bless us.

Sometimes, we have moments when we wake up and realize things are…not what we want them to be. And then we get stuck, because we just can’t let go of the discrepancy between what we want and what we got. This is the Second Noble Truth. Our suffering comes from our desire not to suffer ever, at all, under any circumstances, which is impossible. Our suffering comes from all the ways we cling to our rose-colored glasses and our willful ignorance and our squeezed-shut eyes. We suffer an endless, endless parade of “ifs.” If I just got this job, if I could only make more money, if she only loved me back, if I could just get out of debt/not be sick/not be lonely, THEN I would be okay. Lama Surya Das asks, “What is the big ‘If’ that leads you away from wisdom and reality?”

It is a sobering question.

Wisdom and reality arise when we accept the Right View, which is that a perfect life with no problems has not happened for anyone. (If you’re Christian, ponder that this did not even happen for Jesus- not even in the slightest. As Stephen Colbert said recently about suffering, “God does it too.”)

Right View doesn’t mean we can’t be mad, or that we shouldn’t be mad. It doesn’t ask us not to work mightily to change things for the better. Right View only asks us to see, and to accept what we see.

I do not believe we can be powerful or effective allies for good if we cannot begin here, among the roses and thorns. If we want to walk this path, we have to leave behind the feckless field of What Ifs.

Only when we practice Right View can we move from wandering to walking the path.

So, this week: can you be brave enough to accept the suffering in the world around you? Can you just show up, and look at it, and acknowledge that it’s there? When you feel uncomfortable and want to run/hide/move/forget, can you stay instead, and let go of the idea that not seeing it makes it any less real, or any less heartbreaking?

See roses where there are roses, thorns where there are thorns. That’s where the wisdom is, beloveds.

This post is part of my series on Walking the Eightfold Path. You’ll be able to read all my posts on Right View here.