Why do I suffer?
Video transcript: 'Why do I suffer?
Why do you suffer? ‘Life is hard’ is such a common term. ‘Suffering is part of life’, they say. Why is that the situation? And is it a given?
What is the cause of suffering?
Is your life situation the cause ?
Let’s start with the question – what is the cause of suffering? Why do you think you suffer? Is it because things don’t go your way? Because of money, spouse, job, health or any other circumstance which isn’t favorable?
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If everything went your way, your whole list of life situation would manifest – would you be free of suffering? I don’t think so. This is a key motivation in people’s lives, and they spend their whole lives chasing those goals. Because it’s not easy reaching them, they die trying and live suffering.
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Occasionally you manage to mark V on a goal, and you get a relief, before you move to the next goal. In rare cases, you might really get all you wanted. You then might meet an existential crisis, because you received the rare and painful proof that happiness is not found there, and suffering only got worse.
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Our first thought is that our suffering is because of our life’s situation, and that if it would get arranged, we’ll stop suffering. But you can see easily that reaching those goals doesn’t grant more than a fleeting relief.
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If you look even closer, you’ll notice that the even the suffering those unfavorable events cause is not a result of them happening, but of you interpreting them as negative.
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Then what is the cause of suffering?
Are your personality tendencies the cause?
Or maybe you suffer because something in your personality is stirred and generates negative emotions which cause you suffering? You just have specific tendencies in your character which just promote suffering, like anxiety, anger, jealousy etc. Is that the cause?
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If you think that then you are closer to the cause of suffering, because you understand that the manifestation of suffering, and therefore the possible solution to it, is in you, and not out there.
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But is the makeup of your personality the real cause of suffering? How could this personality be fixed? You can go to therapies and healing, which is highly recommended, and it can most certainly help, but can it truly free you from suffering? Can it truly connect you to freedom and unconditional peace and happiness?
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Our personality, the manifestations of the psyche and our way of interpreting and reacting to the events that occur in your lives are very important and indeed can be the cause of a lot of suffering, but that again is not the fundamental cause of suffering.
The fundamental cause of suffering is our relationship with the mind
The fundamental cause of suffering is our identification with the mind and believing it to be the mediator between us and life.
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You suffer because you live through the mind.
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That is happening because you are entirely identified with it and think it is who you are and that the world you live in is the world of the mind. Meaning, you consider your own self to be that movement of the mind. And you allow it, the mental voice that speaks inside you incessantly, to advise you on every single matter in life. You allow it because you think it is your voice.
The result is living in a world of the mind – the permanent veil
The result of it is that the reality you live in, the world inside which you exist, is entirely and without exception, delivered to you through your mind.
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It may sound extreme, but it is actually accurate. Apart from the fact that you think incessantly, there is a mental interpretation inbuilt into how you see life and interact with it. It is always there. Like a veil through which you see life. It is transparent, but it is full of content.
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The reason for your suffering is nothing other than that veil.
How is that expressed?
How is that expressed?
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Your life circumstances cause you suffering because you believe and follow the interpretations your mind offers you.
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You wrongfully consider happiness to be found in improving circumstances because that is what the conditioned mind tells you.
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You suffer from your different personality tendencies because you consider the messages it gives you to be valid and real.
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It is not the life situation, it is not the things that appear in your life or the thoughts and emotions that appear in your psyche, which are the cause for your suffering, it is the fact that you live through the mental veil of the mind and allow it to dictate to you what life is and who you are.
Why do you live through that veil?
Why do you live through that veil?
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You live through that veil because you believe it to be real and necessary.
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Amazingly enough, despite it being there permanently, this veil of the mind is actually unreal. Meaning, it appears to be there but actually it is an illusion. There is no veil. There is your unconscious total belief in it, which consequently gives it pseudo reality.
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Please note, I use the word believe. It is more than identification with the mind. It is the inherent belief in the reality and validity of the mind which gives rise to the illusion.
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I emphasize this because it has a vital implication in terms of solving this predicament.
Can this situation be solved?
Can this situation be solved?
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It most certainly can.
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And the reason is that while the veil itself is unreal, you, your essence, and life, is real. And they are made of something entirely different from that mind. They are made of peace and joy. You are made of it.
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This is not a spiritual wishful thinking. It is a verifiable fact.
How to solve it?
You can solve this situation when you make a clear distinction between that layer of the mind and your own essence. One is made of mind stuff; one is made of silence. One exists through constant flux of imagination and mental motion, one is. One is a constant frantic oscillation between past, future and tainted present, one is the Now and nothing else.
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You solve it by first recognizing the two layers.
Then disidentifying from the mind.
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But ultimately you get free by one thing only – when you realize that veil is not and never was real. Only when you drop the contract of belief with it you become free.
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You discover that you are made of freedom and silence and there was actually nothing ever to be free of.
Conclusion
To conclude, the answer to the question of what the cause of suffering is is that you believe the mind to be real and valid. You consider it to be who you are and allow it to filter the world to you permanently.
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The solution to it is both the easiest and most obvious thing there is, and yet a hidden secret. It is something you have right now and yet you need to discover it. The solution is to fundamentally disbelieve the mind so that the reality of silence, peace and freedom can naturally shine through.
There is a way, a beautiful and concrete way, to do it.