Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 The first given of life is that changes and endings are inevitable for any person, relationship, enthusiasm, or thing. Nothing is perfect, permanently satisfying, or permanently anything. Everything falls apart in time. #2 We were designed to deal with death and endings. We can mourn the loss of a loved one, and we can allow ourselves to feel sad, angry, and afraid when these things occur. We can then work through the unappealing facts of death and endings by mourning. #3 The five givens of life are the conditions that we must face in order to overcome our deeply held illusions. They are the fact that things change, the fact that plans fall through, our illusion of control, our illusion that things will be fair, and the fact that pain will not happen to us. #4 The teachings of the Buddhist tantric tradition, which embrace the conditions of existence as the useful raw material of spiritual practice, are a reflection of the world's increasing capacity for light

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