In the midst of distress or even pain, seeking solace seems appropriate. However if we keep in mind that we seek all the time, we might come upon the realization that seeking itself is suffering. Want is insufficiency and when pain generates it, perhaps we could choose to pause and not look for resolution. When we just abide, we see that pain and even death is merely an impression.

In just abiding, who abides? Identity is a learnt condition and with its absence, there is no ‘this’ or ‘that’. No seeing, hearing, sensing or feeling. So, no ‘one’ abides, there is just a being. Our logic can be misleading and we might presume it is ‘us’ or ‘them’ or ‘this’ but in abiding without qualification we might start to access a ground that is perfect providence. In it are all eventualities, even the seeking. In being with all eventualities, we learn to want no more than what we just get.

So however we are and whatever there is, we can be at peace. In this equanimity is great strength and the energy for skillful pursuit. Perhaps pain is the summit of acquisition, enabling us to not take recourse even in meaning and sense. The intensity of seeking is greatest with pain and in not wanting its cessation is likely the greatest freedom!