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New Age. Psychology. Self-Improvement. Nonfiction. HTML:�A lucid, thought-provoking, and illuminating� guide to finding fulfillment and �fluid acceptance of life as it is� (Martha Beck, life coach and New York Times�bestselling author) Why is it that, despite our best efforts, many of us remain fundamentally unhappy and unfulfilled in our lives? In this provocative and inspiring book, David Richo distills thirty years of experience as a therapist to explain the underlying roots of unhappiness�and the surprising secret to finding freedom and fulfillment. There are certain facts of life that we cannot change�the unavoidable �givens� of human existence: (1) everything changes and ends, (2) things do not always go according to plan, (3) life is not always fair, (4) pain is a part of life, and (5) people are not loving and loyal all the time. Richo shows us that by dropping our deep-seated resistance to these givens, we can find liberation and discover the true richness that life has to offer. Blending Western psychology and Eastern spirituality, and including practical exercises, Richo shows us how to open up to our lives�including what is frightening, painful, or disappointing�and discover our greatest gifts.… (more)
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Richo takes a rather ecumenical approach here. Every religion can be interpreted or
One area where I though Richo got more theistic than a Buddhist like me is likely to be very comfortable with... he kept talking about evolution having a purpose or direction and a higher power embracing us, that sort of thing. It is certainly a tricky topic even in Buddhism, so trying to juggle this is still showing enough care that I never quite dismissed the discussion as utterly mistaken. And probably this kind of talk would be much more helpful to those coming from a theistic background, like Christians etc.
This juggling gets quite explicit at the end of the book, on the bottom of page 235: "Why things happen is ultimately a mystery. We cannot exactly say that everything happens for a purpose. However, making the best of what happens to us is the equivalent of a purpose."
For me, emptiness goes beyond impermanence to encompass paradox. The ground of things is emptiness, ok, but emptiness is not a ground. Emptiness is not a thing but more a quality that fulfills a role. Emptiness plays the role of ground without being some kind of underlying supporting thing. Ha, I am imagining some performance of a play, where all the actors behave as if there were one more actor on stage, but in fact that actor is just not there. Ha, like that movie Harvey with Jimmy Stewart! As I recall, we never see or hear Harvey. The equivalent of an actor? Yeah, OK!