The Noble Eightfold path is a process. Don't worry about getting it perfectly at every moment. Do not expect that you will automatically wake up one morning with a wonderful loving feeling toward everyone that you express through tireless works of selflessness. It took many years to become conditioned the way you are and it will take some time to make changes. The Path provides the methods to accomplish this.

Everything you need to awaken is included in the Four Noble Truths. The insights and methods provide a toolbox to tackle a lifetime of conditioning. This conditioning afflicts everyone and keeps you behind a veil of illusion. One of the biggest illusions is the illusion of separation. That is, “me” as being separate from “you,” and not just people — everything. The traditional belief, now supported by quantum physics, is that there is an interconnection amongst everything. And what we experience as solid objects is really mostly empty space.

If you know that everything is interconnected, you will behave differently in the world. Not only is everything interconnected, it is also in flux — constantly changing. Wisdom invites you to recognize this and to enjoy the ride. Reality is a process, not a collection of things. The world (including your body) is a ceaseless dance of energy and matter, interdependent and impersonal. It only becomes personal through the process of attachment and identification through language — “me and mine.” The process of the Four Noble Truths can give you a direct experience of this truth. When interdependence is experienced, compassion for others and the earth arises naturally.