Doubt & the Path

     "'True love and prayer are learned in the moment when prayer has become impossible and the heart has turned to stone.' Thomas Merton

     This is something I experienced myself after about 12 years of practice, when I went through a period of several months where nothing made sense anymore. By just staying with the experience and not buying into the story that everything was wrong - that I was wrong, the practice was wrong, the teacher was wrong - I pulled out of it and entered into practice much more deeply than I ever had before. So I think it's really important for all of us to understand that dry spots are a very natural part of practice and that they don't mean we're a failure on the path."     Ezra Bayda, Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, Summer 2013

     See also: http://www.johnlovas.com/2013/06/embracing-difficulties.html

Martha on her path