loving, more loving…

Suffering only hurts because you fear it.
Suffering only hurts because you complain about it.
It pursues you because you flee from it.
You must not flee, you must not complain,
you must not fear. You must love.


You know all this yourself,
you know quite well deep within you,
that there is a single magic, a single power
a single salvation and a single happiness,
and that is called loving..


Well then, love your suffering.
Do not resist it, do not flee from it.
Taste how sweet it is in it’s essence,
give yourself to it, do not meet it with aversion,
it is only your aversion that hurts, nothing else.

Hermann Hesse
(from: A Guide for the Advanced Soul, by Susan Hayward)