A Reflection: Nothing to Carry, Everything to Give
- Divad
- Jul 6
- 1 min read
We come into this world with nothing.
No possessions, no titles, no burdens of gold or stone.
We leave it the same way — empty-handed, unadorned.
All that we cling to in between — wealth, praise, power — slips through open fingers.
It cannot follow us beyond the last breath.
In this perspective, looking to the past we find emptiness at birth —
no fixed self, no lasting substance.
And looking to the future we see the same emptiness at death —
no self to carry forward, no weight to hold back.
Much like how we came, so too do we leave.
Yet in this brief passage between birth and death,
there is something that shines through the emptiness:
the open hand, the open heart.
To help where help is needed.
To ease another’s burden, even for a moment.
To sit beside the suffering without turning away.
This is not duty, nor heroism, nor sacrifice.
It is simply the way of things —
like a tree shading the traveler,
like rain falling on rich and poor alike.
When we see that we own nothing,
we become free to give everything.
When we see that there is no self to protect,
compassion flows naturally, without measure.
In the end, we carry nothing with us —
except, perhaps, the quiet knowing
that for a little while,
we lived to lighten the load for others.
And that is enough.
Thank you brother Tom for your discussion on this topic.
Divad
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