Why We Pursue Consciousness

I have spent some time lately reading the daily meditations in Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, a book which my aunt gave me when I graduated from high school. The entry for September 2nd resonated with me, particularly as it reflected much of what we're trying to do in our meetings.

The meditation opens with a quote from the poet Rainer Maria Rilke:

Somewhere there is an ancient emnity between our daily life and the great
work. Help me in saying it, to understand it.

Ban Breathnach goes on to write:

For we can't work well or live well if we don't life authentically.
Like Rilke, we need to acknowledge aloud the ancient emnity between Real Life
and work. It exists. It tears us to pieces every day. We need
to help each other understand it, because we will never understand it on our
own. We can start by holding one another's hands, by listening to one
another's concerns, by reassuring one another, today, that everything will be
all right.

Somehow, together, we will figure it out.

Just something to keep us on the road toward consciousness, even when life threatens to swamp us...