I just finished reading a beautiful little book called Siddhartha. It’s a very colorful story about a man who crossed paths with the Buddha and lived a hundred other little adventures on his way to finding meaning, fulfillment, and peace in life.
The book literally led to a few tears as I read on the airplane. And led to the occasional discreet hiding of a page, so the teenager next to me couldn’t read the parts about Siddhartha’s lover teaching him “the game of love . . . one of the thirty or forty different games [she] knew. . . .” Like the one “which the textbooks call ‘climbing a tree.'” Like I said. Colorful.
But honestly, it was a really eye-opening book. Really deeply human and incredibly inspiring.
I think one of the most human lessons I’ve learned in all of life is this–and the book was a really strong reminder of it:
“Quoth Siddhartha: ‘What should I possibly have to tell you, oh venerable one? Perhaps that you’re searching far too much? That in all that searching, you don’t find the time for finding?'” – Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
When we try really hard to be happy, happiness is elusive.
But sometimes when you stop trying, you discover that you are happy.
Siddhartha spent years and years and years of his life looking for peace and wisdom everywhere, only to find that it had been there with him all along.
He just had to stop searching.
“Everyone’s always trying so damn hard. Trying to be good enough. Trying to rest. Working hard at relaxing. Everyone’s trying so hard to stop being spiritually exhausted and overwhelmed, because that’s ingrained in us. Trying so hard might just be the exact problem.” – an excerpt from an old message I ran across that I wrote to my sister
What if we stopped trying so damn hard?
What if every now and then we paused in all our searching?
Maybe we have all we need.
Like Andy Bernard from The Office says: “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve left them.”
peterelbridge.com 