The key to appreciating a burn is to focus on the spacious expanse of the overall landscape, and the general process that occurs when new life (new flowers, etc.) emerge out of death and devastation.
In our own lives, suffering is intensified because we identify so heavily with our individual skin-encased self. In other words, we usually think of ourselves as being like an individual tree that has been destroyed in a fire. But what if we identified ourselves instead with the larger expanse of awareness, which - as it turns out - is a participation in that of the Divine? Then we would begin to think of ourselves more as an expansive, regenerating landscape, rather than as an individual dead or dying tree.
And that, of course, is precisely the point of meditation - learning to take the more expansive view. But it takes awhile for us to ingrain the larger perspective into our being. That's why we call meditation a "practice." Like practicing the piano or guitar, it's something that we need to do over and over again. In the beginning, we don't seem very successful, but eventually, the larger view starts to become second nature :)
Photo: Lory State Park after the Galena Fire; Larimer County, CO; May 7, 2013
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