Turning 50 & Dying to All

This man is turning 50 on October 7. As his landmark birthday approaches, he finally realizes the empty futility of the accumulation of knowledge. He has sought hard and relentlessly for at least 30 years, seeking the truth, longing for the correct formula, craving the perfect key to unlock the mystery of life with all its suffering, struggles and sorrows. Even his ideas of God and religion have grown heavy and wearisome to him. He feels as though he is in a small boat on a mighty river and is about to round a difficult but necessary turn. There is resistance. There are currents that would discourage him from rounding the point. But the greatest obstacle is his own reluctance to die to all that has gone before. He has discovered already with the incredible sorrow that weighs upon him that there is nowhere to turn from it. It is on all sides. There is no magical thinking to assist his escape. But to see this, to recognize this, is the beginning of his liberation. He now sees that his attachments and dependencies have prepared the actual soil in which sorrow grows. He sees in dying to all these, as he rounds this treacherous point, that liberation and love will flow freely beneath his feet. The fine art photograph is the creation of my friend Jorgen Klausen, and is from his Mask series.