What Else Is True? Nourishment Amid Distraction

Be not a photo, but let me touch your real, flesh-and-blood humanness. In this time of wanting to be seen in so many different ways—with countless social platforms to choose from—it sometimes feels easier to be an image or a word than a living, breathing human being.

Be a breath. A movement of the face. A feeling. A physical sensation—just not another polished, appealing picture. A genuine expression rather than a fleeting impression.

Offer me space in your heart, not competition for your attention. What would closeness to or with you look like? In a world overflowing with the ache of loneliness, perhaps that is what we truly share—our loneliness, our suffering.

Suffering will come whether we want it or not, said the Buddha in his teaching on the First Noble Truth: “All conditioned things are unsatisfactory.” (Dhammapada 278) and “Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are suffering.” (Samyutta Nikaya 56.11)

What else but suffering is true? We share a true longing to be vivid, radiant, desired. Be it Freud’s object of desire that enlivens us or Jung’s shadows that we prefer not to look at—how do you sit, breathe, and embrace both the suffering and the desire without acting upon them?

Our contemporary go-to distractions—like social media and endless apps—often mask and divert us from our loneliness, suffering, and desire. They continue to illusion us, almost whispering that if only we get more likes, followers, or leads, our ego would be soothed—that somehow we would heal or transform the deep wounds of our longing to be recognized, loved, and validated.

Let me bring you my still-beingness instead of the marketing noise of the media. My eyes hurt from it all—and yours? Be a reality for me, for you—not a reel. A close-up, so that together we may nourish the wellspring of feelings that have yet to find words. What are the ways you nourish yourself today without any external circumstances?

How do we share our time together—with the true self and the other? May we find one another, especially in these days, in the simple acts of breathing, seeing, caring, listening, loving, and being present.

May we look again into each other’s eyes and remember what it means to be human. As it is written in Psalm 84:2: “My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Whether God, divine energy, or the values and intentions that guide you come through presence, human connection, or the wildness of nature, may we learn to hold and be held by it—and may that, too, be for a blessing.

May it be a nourishing and healthy new year of exploring what else is true for your loved ones and for you.

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Rabbi Yonatan provides spiritual guidance and mindfulness coaching at flexible, affordable rates. He also facilitates Men’s Circles and Men’s Work. To learn more and schedule a complimentary Zoom consultation, please visit www.yonatan-arnon.com