Everything That Arises

Weekly wisdom to bring you home in two minutes, or less.

A SHORT STORY

Last Saturday, Anastasiia and I were able to watch the filmed version of Hadestown.

Over the past ten years, I’ve had a very unique relationship with this show.

Not only did one of my dearest friends, Patrick, play the title role of Hades, but the show has accompanied me through two distinct rites of passage.

The first was in May 2016, when I saw the Off-Broadway production the day after my Mom passed away. And later, in 2025, when Anastasiia and I flew to London to see Patrick in the London production, two days before my Father passed away.

And it got me thinking this weekend about a profound truth underneath the story: everything that arises passes away.

It feels simple, but when you really know it, you really know it. And it’s something I have found that you come to know over and over and over again.

As I type this, I can think of the countless times in my life when, all of a sudden, I have understood that everything that arises passes away in a particularly poignant way. I can remember saying it, sometimes out loud to people, sometimes just to myself: “…you know, I really get that.”

I offer it to you now as you go about your week, or even today. Perhaps it’s a particular though, a stressful time at work, or a difficult struggle you’re in. Maybe you and I can repeat it together.

Everything that arises passes away.

A POEM

“Otherwise” by Jane Kenyon

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.
At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.

Grateful,

Michael