Circumstance and Condition

 

Everything comes to light by circumstance, hateable or likeable only because of the atmosphere in which it appears.  The problem is most things are judged by circumstance; they are not seen for what they are, but what we think they are, and the bad luck of discriminating between whatever is imaginable in any given situation and our past conditioning is the conclusion to this.  We hear music and laughter at a distance and suddenly feel left out; we cannot go where we had planned and become morose; these are circumstance and condition coming into contact with the senses, that is all, but we make of it the meaning and direction of our lives thereafter.  Where is reality then?  Where is the place that is not affected by all this?  If we could stare all day at the branch of a tree with its leaves unfolding, we would never say they were opening, but if we look at it for only a moment day after day, we may see the change undeniably.  Circumstances change, the conditioned mind may see this change, but we are the leaf opening, transcending all judgement.

Douglas Thornton