Free from suffering

(Kind of long, sorry. But it is an important subject, so bear with me.)

I do not claim to be enlightened, or even know what the absolute definition of that word means. However, I have recently for the first time achieved a few moments of “no-mind” during my meditations, which were then followed by some long, hard, deep contemplations. I would like to share with you some of my insights that arose from these contemplations.

Often times in life we are caught in webs of confusion, of fear, of illusionary perceptions… and we tend to become lost to our true reality. Suffering then becomes very obvious to us, and we strive to find ways (a path) to escape from its grip. We turn to religion (a belief in God) and devote our life to following its codes and commandments so we can escape this realm of suffering in the afterlife. We turn to sensory comforting objects (food, sex, entertainment, drugs, alcohol…) to try and immediately escape this sense of suffering in the present life. We look to government, science and technology, hoping we can invent new ways of escaping this reality of suffering, and for good. We search, we find, but still there is no escape. Why is this?

One might say that suffering is not to be escaped and that it is nothing more than a perception of an intelligent mind. A mind that is aware of its environment, and experiencing it through a set of five sensory elements; sound, sight, smell, taste and touch. They may say that from the collective of these five sensory signals, thought will arise. Thought would be the analyzing and comparison after effect (balance) from the collection of these senses by the brain. Further, from “thought” there will arise the “Self”, a realization of one’s own existence. This “Self”, is where all emotions will arise from (insofar as the “Ego”). One of these emotions is the emotion of suffering.
So since suffering is what we are all having problems with, we should reflect on what is allowing this “Self” to arise. However, when we search for this “Self” it is nowhere to be found. It is nonexistent. Everything we label as a part of the “Self” (body, emotions, personality, memories, mind) is ever changing and perishable, so therefore no absolute definition can be giving to as what this “Self” is. From here we are either able to accept a temporary inconclusive answer of what this “Self” is, or study further into its reality.

When we study further, allowing ourselves to go beyond the “Self” to see what it is, we end up in a state of thought watching. Here we watch our thoughts without the influence of the “Self” to judge or analyze them. However, this state is unstable because our senses are bombarding us with thoughts, making it nearly impossible to remain concentrating in a “Self-less” state of single pointed focus, more or less to control our bombardment of emotions. So we go even further, and now we are back in a state of pure awareness (no-mind). (I am not sure if “no-mind” can be properly explained through words, but I will do my best.) (IMO, it may be better labeled “no-thought” than “no-mind” because the latter may too often be associated with death of the mind and body.)

Here there is emptiness and fullness at the same time. It is like everything and nothingness at once. There are no senses, no thoughts, no “Self”, no emotions and thus no suffering. You are only left with the title of “I Am”. You return to being nothing but your original true self, vibrating energy.
Thus, we now understand that if one seeks to remove themselves from this feeling of suffering, we should become simple awareness, in a state of “no-mind”. This is our path to end suffering. (To be more specific this isn’t a path to find, as we’ve already found it or have it, but rather it is a path to follow.)

Now I know many of you may say “this is ridiculous”, but I ask you isn’t it ironic how we have built civilizations and societies, created technologies and religions, devised economies and governments, all to come closer to this path of no suffering, when in fact it is allowing for the exact opposite to happen?

Do we not build a bridge to cross over it in our cars? Do we not travel because we feel the need to move? Do we not move because we fear stillness? Do we not fear stillness because we fear death? Is fear not a form of suffering? Are we not running from the inevitable? Why are we running? Is our intelligence blinding us to who and what we truly are? Is this not the moral of the Adam and Eve story?

… Lol… Ok I’ll stop, and I’ll ask you to ponder: If we are too attached to our physical bodies to let go of them, then should we not at least find out how to go beyond them while we’re still in them, so we are not stuck solely in this state of suffering? After all, aren’t all of these societal and systematic flaws of humanity resulting out of, insofar as deriving from, this sense of suffering?


In between whispering “Go beyond” into your mind…
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The Buddha is laughing…

CNN - Can Meditation change your brain?
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


There is a book called "I AM" by Howard Falco that you would probably find interesting. I recommend it to anyone trying to look deeper into these sort of issues.

reply to post by Subconsciously Correct


Alright, thanks. I'll check it out.

Do you know of any other books on this topic, besides Buddhism stuff?

My statement will be short, but I believe it ties in with your thoughts. It is one of a series of culminative identifications that I had written down a while ago and added to over time. (Sadly I had a problem with my computer, so I lost the files, so the following might not be as legible as the files since the files were carefully written to be understandable and elaborate)


We need to suffer, we need to have problems. We need these to promote intellectual and physical propagation. All living beings function with a necessity to overcome problems, but once they do overcome a certain problem, a new one arises. It is a perpetual cycle encouraging growth of the body and mind. When a problem is not present, you will find many people succumb to illnesses of the mind or seek out problems, or both.

Look at extreme sports, not all individuals involved, but some. Look at the wealthy, you usually see them not really in bliss with their wealth, and having slightly altered issues than the average person, but they have problems anyway. People subconciously seek to suffer, to have problems, while contradictory to that desire, is a desire to overcome it. An individual is like a perpetual mathematical problem solving itself where the solution yields a new problem.

A problem can be as soft as a certain goal an individual wants to achieve (go study something maybe), or as hard as trying to survive. The harder the goal, the more suffering one endures, and the more suffering one endures, the more satisfaction one receives when the problem is solved. That is the cycle, a problem arises, a person solves the problem, the person feels good about him/herself, until he/she needs a new problem. There's more to it, different types of problems, and different reactions of peoples to these problems (I am very elaborate I could draw a flowchart) but this is the general outline of it.

So this ties in with your thoughts on overcoming suffering, it is not strictly in opposition, but both function hand in hand.

Kind of difficult to avoid suffering if you are a thinking, feeling human being. Take one day at a time and do the best that you can.

reply to post by Somehumanbeing


This is a great counter argument. I also have deeply contemplated on what you are describing, however as you said, it always leads to more questions and more problems. I will continue to contemplate on this thought though, as it is equally important.

People subconciously seek to suffer, to have problems, while contradictory to that desire, is a desire to overcome it. An individual is like a perpetual mathematical problem solving itself where the solution yields a new problem.

So my question to you is, why continue to move in a direction if it is bound to create more problems? You say suffering is needed, for this is how we grow intellectually, and I agree, but is our intellect not creating these problems for us?

I understand these questions call for you to challenge the very essence of your life, and all that which you have been conformed to, but if we are moving in the wrong direction than isn't it only logical that we stop and reflect on how to turn around?

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


Well as I said it's not really in opposition to your thoughts, it just ties in with it. The thought is that we are not necessarily going in the wrong direction perpetually. It is needed to go in the wrong direction to end up in the right direction. Problems are needed to feel at ease. We are bound to move in a direction that will cause problems as that will, yes, feed our intellect, and our intellect will create another problem. This is not counter-productive, this is productive.

Think of it as a form of re-newable energy generation (yeah I know, but I believe one can picture it clearly this way) The mind finds a problem for someone to solve, and when that problem is solved, the mind becomes stronger, and with this new strength, the mind finds another problem that will challenge it to grow. In turn this causes exponential, constant growth of the intellect until one dies

So what would I propose a person do to aid this? To ease the load of suffering? Solve these problems immediately. Yes more problems will come, but your mind gets stronger, and you will not be plagued by petty problems (petty only in the sense that by the time you grow so strong in mind, that problems of the past seem insignificant) A very young person would probably suffer the first day they goto school, as it is a problem of social integration, while an older person does it with ease (unless ofcourse anxiety disorders are abound, etc which I believe are as much physical problems with the brain as are mental issues regarding problems).

So in essence your pursuit of being entirely free of suffering, whether successful or not is irrelevant, as the more you focus on a solution to this problem with a focus on suffering, your mind will grow stronger, and in turn in relation with suffering, problems of the past will become smaller and smaller and you will suffer less regarding them. In fact, I encourage you to do so, but you will have other, more 'macro' problems you might have to deal with that other people usually ignore for things that I see as petty issues now.(not to say that you aren't already at this stage)

reply to post by Somehumanbeing

I encourage you to do so, but you will have other, more 'macro' problems you might have to deal with that other people usually ignore for things that I see as petty issues now.(not to say that you aren't already at this stage)

Yes, I am definitely at this stage! Could you go into further detail on what these 'macro' problems are in your opinion? That might give me a different perspective and help me reflect better.

Great post! Thanks.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


Well I believe macro problems are problems that involve more variables, ideas, and concepts such as perhaps, ideologies, philosophical pursuits, implementation of philosophy into science (which i believe is how new breakthroughs in science are discovered). In essence these are somewhat like more complex thought patterns brought on by a strengthening of the intellect through progressively increasing capabilities of solving problems, akin to how the brain changes over time when provided a stimulus, (Neuroplasticity).

So as an example, someone with less experience, or less interest in improving theirself, will be susceptible to dwelling in their problems. So progression is rendered stagnant. When this occurs, they will probably just worry over the same things over and over again: Acquiring money, having sex, getting the new phone on the market... Very superficial things, while the more progressed person would be worrying and thinking about things a little differently simply because these "lesser" things are insignificant now:

Where people see money as an entity, this person would probably see it as just paper where you devalue the concept of paper (But still needed ofcourse in this society), perhaps things involving philosophy: your pursuit in trying to remain free of suffering is an example, another could be pondering different methods of progression, questioning the very foundations of our society, thinking independently...

Implementation of philosophy into science: You could say that many world-renowned mathematicians, physicists, doctors, academics really are in this category. Many scientific breakthroughs begin with a philosophical endeavor, "Maybe time is relative?", "Maybe everything functions chaotically?" "Maybe there are things so small, so little that we can't see them, yet so important as to influence events on a grand scale?" and many more that have lead to discoveries and theories.

There's more, and more things, even things beyond these things where you could render even these things as insignificant (Though insignificant does not mean it is not needed), though I can't really tell you what that might be at this moment. I'm sure you get the general idea though from the examples, thought I do see it might be structured as a rant haha. But i'll add, i'm not saying you NEED to think these things to be considered progressive, i'm just providing examples of more complex thought patterns brought on by higher problems, your ideologies might be in complete opposition to this, but it does not render it less complex.

'No man is free who needs air to breathe.' -- old Greek proverb

You will be free from suffering when you are dead. You will not be free of it this side of the grave.

reply to post by Somehumanbeing


I had wrote a reply to this last night but then my internet shut down and I lost it. Anyways, this is some great info and I am adding you as a friend.