Our true nature is more than all the details of our lives or the particulars of our personhood. We are, as they said in Kabbalah, a spark of the Divine. And, while we are more than the ups and downs of our daily lives, it is precisely through these ups and downs that we access the Divine within.
And this means both ups and downs.
Our joys give us opportunities for gratitude, for love, and pleasure. And our sorrows connect us to the collective sorrow, to deeper parts within ourselves, to compassion and even forgiveness. Our true nature is our entire experience. Our true nature is able to step back and observe without judgment and simultaneously to feel the pangs of sorrow and rush of happiness.
Our true nature is both transcendent and personal, and perhaps—as we skip through the mysteries of life—we are best served by slowing down and connecting to the complexities of our entire experience.
Tara Zafft, Ph.D. 