This body wears out with age;it becomes a host to disease
- vulnerable, fragile,
a decrepit, disintegrating mass,
which eventually ends in death.
Dhammapada v. 148
Honesty is at the heart of all true spiritual practice. You might find the unsubtle honesty of this Dhammapada verse feels a bit blunt, but that doesn't mean to say it is unsuitable. What is unsuitable is wasting our life away with propped-up deluded stories about an imagined reality. If we can learn to wisely and compassionately accept real reality, then the energy which was previously consumed by compulsive story-telling, becomes available for living in daring, open, awareness. Some of the most energy-extravagant stories are those believed by the masses. Hence the Buddha's admonition to not heedlessly go along with views just because they are popular.
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