Jeremiah 15:18 Meaning Why Is My Pain Perpetual

Salla: The Dart A dart is the barb that stays lodged in the flesh. Jeremiah's wound came from outside him, from the taunts of the townsmen he was sent to warn and the long stretch of sitting alone. A second dart follows, thrown by his own hand, when he presses the sore place with the question of whether it will ever close.

Domanassa: Grief Domanassa is the ache that lands in the mind. A wound refuses to be healed when the hand keeps going back to it, and his hand goes back every time he rehearses what was done to him. The flesh would close on its own; the rehearsing keeps it open.

Ayoniso manasikāra: Unwise Attention Ayoniso manasikāra is attention aimed down a track that arrives nowhere. "Why is my pain perpetual" digs deeper the more it is asked, like scraping at a dry streambed for water that was never under it. Aim the same attention at what is present this hour, and how much of it is being added, and it begins to find something.

Taṇhā: Thirst Taṇhā is thirst, the leaning of the whole body toward what will slake it. He walks down to the brook having already decided that water will be there, and the emptiness he meets is exactly as large as what he brought with him. The word "deceitful" is the thirst speaking.

Anicca: Impermanence Anicca is the passing nature of whatever arises. A brook in that country runs full through the rains and empties in the heat; it did not lie to him, it changed, which is what water does. The same law that empties a streambed will empty the pain, and a wound called incurable has been handed a permanence that nothing in the world possesses.