Lotus in muddy pond

Everywhere I turn, I witness pain. I hear of suffering. The feel of wretchedness envelopes the earth's psychic atmosphere like a belt of poisoned air.

The mind can focus well only on a sensation at once. Each time we direct attention on a concept, image or experience, we exclude the others.

Pain risks over-simplifying life, reducing everything to discomfort, painting a skewed caricature of life. In suffering we may sacrifice nature's beauty and the mystery of existence.

Today, I contemplate the lotus blooming on a muddy and stinky pond.