Real openness is a direct, immediate experience of your reality. It's not just open mind; it's open heart. And we experience it not as detachment or coolness: it's not like going to the top of the mountain and then we have this absolute perspective. We have this Hubble Telescope perspective of reality, but what about our alcoholic sister and our schizophrenic mother? What about them? There's some sense that we hold this view of openness—big space, big mind, big sky mind. We hold that at the same time we hold the pain of the world in our heart. Trungpa Rinpoche once said, "If you can hold the pain of the world in your heart but never forget the vastness of the great Eastern sun, then you can make a proper cup of tea."
Pema Chodron
