Every week I make a list of people to call. Sometimes it is for business development. Sometimes for fun. Other times, it's to reconnect with someone I haven't spoken to in years. Last week I spoke with my old friend and colleague Maty. It had been 27 years since we last spoke.
We first met 30 years ago when I worked on a joint development program with an Israeli company called Galai. Maty was Galai's director of software development. We came out with a first-to-market artificial intelligence-based product used to classify sub-microscopic defects on microchips. It was exciting work, but it was more exciting for me to travel to Israel. I've visited the great fortress of Masada, Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Via Dolorosa, Latin for "The Way of Suffering." This was Christ's path from where Pontius Pilate condemned him to death to Golgotha, where he was crucified.
Today I had a call with someone I've known for many years. Our relationship is business based but deeply personal. I hadn't heard from him for a few weeks after he said he'd be back in touch in a few days.
I was a bit annoyed as I wrote my text to him. Then I recalled the third of "The Four Agreements." "Don't Make Assumptions." I tempered my language but indicated that my timeline was now urgent for the matter.
There was no response to my text, so I called him after lunch. It turns out he has a rare undiagnosed illness that has him fully immersed in a healthcare battle. With grace and aplomb, he apologized and recommitted to my project. In closing, while facing an unknown resolution, he said, "we all have our crosses to bear."
Whether or not you believe in God, you have developed these beliefs personally. They cannot be proven or disproven. From this perspective, theists and atheists are all equal. The only inequality exists when you cannot find it in your heart to accept that others can have beliefs contradicting your own. Regardless, faith traditions can be instructional for everyone.
Recognizing that we all must suffer in this life, we connect with the most profound elements of our humanity. Often, we get our greatest clarity in the face of suffering. And when we show compassion for those whose suffering we bear witness to, we have a chance to connect with the divine.
Wherever you are in your path, our suffering oft times is self-inflicted. Perhaps the best spiritual teacher I've found who can elucidate this is Eckhart Tolle. I think that suffering is necessary to give us depth and humility. For me, though, the "mike-drop" from Tolle is embodied in this quote.
"Suffering is necessary until you realize it isn't."
Be well, dear reader.
