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Real or Illusion?

"Even if pain is an illusion,
the pain is also part of the illusion."
-Rabbi Louis Jacobs

There is no sense to denying what "is". Life is often frustrating and painful. That is reality. Cancer is real. Suffering is real. A toothache hurts. Rejection is painful.
Accept the pain willingly.
Life is most often playful and wondrous. Plants send out their tendrils seeking light. Flowers come to bud and then blossom sending sprays of color and smells to delight our senses. Food aplenty is in the refrigerator. Our car starts. Traffic that flows and accidents that do not happen are all part of the great and glowing canvass of life.
Accept the joy.
At the very least, give an opportunity for the joy to be felt as seriously as the pain. At least as real.
Whether life is an illusion or not, take it as genuine. A life of roaring laughter until the stomache hurts, tears that cover the face when there is a loss, inhaling the sweet fragrances of nature and so much more bring to our souls new possibility.
And, when God asks us whether we enjoyed His gifts we will be ready to answer, "Yes!"

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