Unexpected Freedom

Unexpected Freedombottom has fallen out of our world. The apparent reality isthat this pain is going to last forever. We think, ‘I can’t standthis, I can’t handle it.’ And of course, we would prefer it notto be this way. But the Dhamma invites us to inhibit thecompulsive tendency to be driven into trying to change thesituation. Instead, we willingly receive the way this painexpresses itself, just as it is. This is the path of insight practiceinto the reality of the way things are.If we remain convinced by the apparent nature of things,if we don’t have faith in this path of practice, then this pain,disappointment, despair, sadness, grief appears permanentand real, and we will believe that we have to do something tosolve it or get out of it; anything would be better than beingwith it. But lacking the commitment to stay with pain, inawareness, we can’t see through the way it appears.The Body’s Natural PreferencesThe Dhamma encourages us to generate the understandingwe need in order to go against our preferences out of aninterest in seeing through into their conditioned nature.There are bodily preferences and mental preferences, andsometimes there isn’t much we can do about changing thebody’s preferences; they’re programmed in the body. I preferpeanut butter and Manuka honey on toast for breakfastrather than fermented fish, as people seem to prefer inThailand. As long as I live, I am sure that I won’t find fish andchillies more agreeable than peanut butter and honey oncrunchy toasted brown bread, at any time for that matter.But this level of preference does not have to be a problem, solong as we know it is simply a bodily preference. It is merelydue to our upbringing. What we can change though, is howwe see our preferences.114