Making Friends with the End of the World

The end of the world has a long and fascinating history.  It has been predicted countless times throughout the centuries by all sorts of religions and philosophies.  My personal favorite was when Harold Camping made a widely publicized prediction for the end of the world on May 21, 2011.  Many of his followers divested themselves of their assets in preparation for this event, and were understandably disappointed when utter calamity and destruction did not ensue.

Suffice it to say that while predicting the end of the world may be a lucrative trade, winning any bets being right about it is a far dicier proposition.  (Even if not for the consistent failure of people to win in this scenario - how would you collect?)  So all in all, it's safe to say that I'm not really an "end of the world" kind of guy.

But if I were that kind of guy, 2020 would certainly seem to qualify as having the right omens and portents for signaling the end of the world.  Seriously, a global pandemic that's killed 1.3 million people so far? That's more than Moses was supposed to have lead out of Egypt. Or if you prefer, let's look at a poisonous political atmosphere in which rule of civility and precedence have gone right out the window, in which each side is thoroughly convinced that the other is attempting to destroy the nation in one way or another.

Hindus and Buddhists have a name for this time period: the Kali Yuga, which is a time of strife and discord, in which engaging is spiritual practice is extremely difficult.  Some say it began thousands of years ago, but there's definitely an argument that it's picking up speed.  How on earth is one supposed to to embrace universal compassion when the universe is filled with people who have professed their hatred for you and is irrevocably convinced that you hate them?

How indeed.

“I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it.” - Mae West

A wise man once explained to me the secret of doing anything that's really difficult: make friends with it.  Don't do something in spite of the difficulty.  Do it because of it.  The difficulty is what makes it fun.  If you need a frame of reference, imaging being forced to play a video game over and over on the easiest setting.  It would rapidly get exceedingly tedious.  It gets fun when you keep ramping up the difficulty level so that you always have to work at it.  Why should life or one's spiritual practice be any different?

So stop getting frustrated at how ugly the political situation is, or how hard it is to meditate, or your complete inability to get through the day without being stressed at work.  Lean in.  Embrace the challenge, and don't worry about whether you succeed or fail.  It doesn't matter how many push-ups you do.  What matters is you push yourself as hard as you can.

The effort is enough.