The root of all suffering is a closed mind.
When I believe I know what should and should not be and I refuse to examine any alternatives, it is inevitable that I will suffer. Because my idea of what should be is bound to conflict with what is at some point. And which will win ? My opinion of what should be or what IS?
When I don’t know what should or should not be and am simply open to what is, I have no frame of reference for arguing with anything that happens. And so I have no frame of reference for suffering.
A truly open mind is incapable of suffering.
What’s more: if I really want freedom from suffering, an open mind is required. There can be no lasting peace without it.
And in the end, it’s the only thing necessary to be at peace.
““Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not get bent out of shape.””
Does that mean I just ignore all the hardship and injustice in the world?
No.
When my mind is open and I am free from suffering, I still retain all my faculties for noticing people and situations and responding to them with love.
The difference is that when I’m not suffering, I don’t LOSE any of those faculties: I am not paralyzed by fear, blinded by rage, hobbled by injury, closed off by shame, tied down by obligation or rendered deaf by a need for certainty.
When my mind is open, I am free to be fully present with people, fully connected to this moment, to recognize and avail myself of every opportunity to respond in perfect accordance with my peaceful, loving, true nature.