Be forewarned: This time together today does not have a happy ending. Or,
perhaps I should say, a satisfactory ending. We are about to deal with the
toughest problem religion, theology or spiritual practice ever undertakes: the
problem of evil and suffering. These are not happy or satisfactory things.
We have spent some time talking about the first two points I've wanted to make
about developing spirituality with an attitude. The first point was about being
awake and conscious. The second point was about being conscious and compassionate. These are states of mind that we develop and work on much as
a musician works on mastery of his or her instrument. They practice.
Then comes the matter of going to the concert hall or to some other venue to
play. For us the concert hall is where we go to work, in our parenting, in
interacting with friends and loved ones and with the rest of the world.