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ConsciousEvolution
India
29 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 20 2010 : 11:00:33 AM
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I've done some reflecting today over the last period of my life, and felt like sharing what came out.
Basically, there is a movement between being relaxed and at ease within, and great turmoil and vicissitudes.
I find that unbeknownst to me, I delegate my wellbeing and inner peace to a thousand and one external factors. It could be a relationship, monetary issues, health, something I want to achieve but don't manage to, or any other thing. I then go through great suffering and pain only to surface from my self-created quagmire with the crystal clear realization that I can blame no-one and no-thing for my situation, and that I have been inadvertently creating all of the "problems" that have been inflicting so much pain on me.
I am left completely amazed at how it can take one moment to go from feeling an almost unbearable anxiety, to a subtle and gentle sense of calm and peace.
I am definitely pleased with these observations as the mere recognition and the taking of responsibility implies a huge step forward.
Yet I am left questioning myself and the mechanism at work behind this vicious circle as to why one must experience this over and over again?
And furthermore, I ask myself how does one extricate oneself once and for all from this sorrowful and dual way of life?
A big thank you for all the wonderful souls here who have contributed priceless pearls of wisdom and love to me and who have been so kind and supportive with me in my journey.
Love,
CE
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Jun 20 2010 : 11:19:26 AM
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The problem is in thinking that one way is "right" and the other way "wrong". We pick things and people in our life to label as wrong, and then we waste a lot of energy on them. If you make both of those states "OK", and just watch yourself going through them it will be much easier.
Meditation helps with that.
Once you make it all OK, and step back a little, it becomes more of a fun roller coaster ride or watching a movie, rather than heaven and hell. |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - Jun 20 2010 : 1:35:56 PM
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It's really a long process. Learning is done in the unconscious mind and depending on how you judge these things (and I make no judgement)then the learning can have been over the entire time that man has been on this planet.
Often during TLT I have had people (including myself)look quite surprised that an incident in their genealogy or past life history has been the cause of how they are feeling at that moment.
You are right to question why? Seems crazy, but perhaps it is all about training. One day you realise you have had enough of the circles of fear and sadness and decide it's time to do something about it. Maybe it's evolution. Who knows ? |
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Kirtanman
USA
1651 Posts |
Posted - Jun 20 2010 : 8:01:49 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by ConsciousEvolution
I've done some reflecting today over the last period of my life, and felt like sharing what came out.
Basically, there is a movement between being relaxed and at ease within, and great turmoil and vicissitudes.
I find that unbeknownst to me, I delegate my wellbeing and inner peace to a thousand and one external factors. It could be a relationship, monetary issues, health, something I want to achieve but don't manage to, or any other thing. I then go through great suffering and pain only to surface from my self-created quagmire with the crystal clear realization that I can blame no-one and no-thing for my situation, and that I have been inadvertently creating all of the "problems" that have been inflicting so much pain on me.
I am left completely amazed at how it can take one moment to go from feeling an almost unbearable anxiety, to a subtle and gentle sense of calm and peace.
I am definitely pleased with these observations as the mere recognition and the taking of responsibility implies a huge step forward.
Yet I am left questioning myself and the mechanism at work behind this vicious circle as to why one must experience this over and over again?
And furthermore, I ask myself how does one extricate oneself once and for all from this sorrowful and dual way of life?
A big thank you for all the wonderful souls here who have contributed priceless pearls of wisdom and love to me and who have been so kind and supportive with me in my journey.
Love,
CE
Hi CE,
It really is about dropping conceptual evaluation. What happens is just what happens. Emotional reactions are based on a lifetime of artificial conceptual conditioning; emotional attachment is literally the energy which binds us to the dreamstate.
I found it helpful, when I was going through this, to ask myself "Is the disturbance based on something that is happening right now?"
I probably asked this question, either with words or attention, several thousand times, at least, and the answer was "yes" exactly .... zero ..... times.
Every single moment of distress anyone experiences is based on a custom-conditioned slice of imagination that we all know so well: financial fears, relationship fears; doubts about success or worthiness and so on; whatever they may be.
Asking "Is the disturbance based on something that is happening right now?" helps to bring our attention back to the actual (i.e. "Am I physically on fire?" "No." "Am I being physically eaten by a large, aggressive animal?" "No." "So far so good ....."  ).
Seriously .....and the above suggestion is serious; I'd literally ask myself those follow-on questions, too, as a way of emphasizing to my imagination-based, imagination-troubled imaginary-mind ..... that nearly every instance of actuality can be handled and tolerated without too much trouble.
Even challenging moments, in actuality, are much different than their imaginary equivalents, and usually, infinitely more tolerable.
And even the most challenging moments tend to be challenging because of concept-based imagination beforehand, and concept-based memory, afterward.
In actuality, there's only awareness experiencing actuality.
Everything else is made up.
To paraphrase the yoga sutras, "Yoga {Union} is the ending of make-believe."
Now, this may sound like I'm minimizing what feel like very real and troubling personal circumstances; I'm actually not; I lived all that emotional disturbance, too; I know how utterly real it can all feel in experience.
However, that's because we're conditioned from the time we can talk (a bit before, actually), and the whole world reinforces it, every moment .... that conceptuality is true.
That doesn't make it true, though.
The ultimate beauty of it, is: because the awareness that's experiencing it all (including the limited sense of self which has the kind of troubles we're discussing here), is what we actually are, and is equally accessible for all of us.
As I quoted in another thread recently, regarding enlightenment:
"I don't have something you don't; you believe something I don't."
~Jed McKenna
Ultimately, it's that simple: enlightenment is simply the complete release of all conceptual beliefs and evaluations, including the root belief ("I'm me; separate, partial and incomplete").
Even if we mentally know we're awareness, or "spirit" or whatever, we can notice that whenever we feel disturbed, we feel like a separate, partial self in that particular moment.
Literally: that particular moment.
In the whole moment, now, there's only awareness experiencing actuality; "no concepts required".
I hope that's useful, CE.
We've all been there, and yes, it seems to be a long, arduous process when you're in it.
The good news is: when it's over .... you basically don't even remember it .... really.
Just like a really bad dream: horrible when you're in it; troubling when you're letting it go ... and utterly gone and unremembered not long after that.
Wholeheartedly,
Kirtanman
PS- "Complete release" doesn't mean solely in surface/active consciousness, but in the sub-conscious and long-term, "body-memory", as well. This is where practices, inquiry, and the pure light of inner silence/ witness state/ pure awareness come in ... they literally install a new, infinitely-more-real operating system in the body-mind. |
Edited by - Kirtanman on Jun 20 2010 8:05:48 PM |
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rkishan
USA
102 Posts |
Posted - Jun 25 2010 : 12:07:19 PM
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I was reading Bhagavat Gita Chapter 2 and interestingly came across this same topic on verse 14. Krisha talks about the same problem you have described. If your read further on the chapter 2 and chapter 3, there is a very detailed answer for all your questions including the "why" questions that you have asked.
(Gita commentary by Swami Chinmayananda is available free here: http://www.chinmayauk.org/Resources/Downloads.htm)
Here is the verse:
matra-sparsas tu kaunteya sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah
agamapayino 'nityas tams titiksasva bharata
Translation and commentary by Swami Chinmayananda:
"The contacts of senses with objects, O son of Kunti, which cause heat and cold, pleasure and pain, have a beginning and an end; they are impermanent; endure them bravely, O descendant of Bharata."
--According to the accepted theory of perception in Vedanta, an object is perceived not BY the sense-organs but THROUGH them. The Indriyas are instruments through which the perceiving-ego gathers the knowledge of various objects. If the perceiver is not actually contacting the objects through through the sense-organs, the objects, as such, cannot bring any perception to him.
--That the same objects can give two different types of experiences to two different individuals is very well-known. The object remaining the same, if it can give different experiences, it is evident that it is because of the difference in the mental composition of the individuals. It is also observed that, objects of one's intense fancy during a certain stage in one's life, become a nuisance to the same individual after a time; for, as time passes on, the mental constitution of the individual also changes. In short, it is very clear that the external objects can convey their stimuli and give us an experience only when our minds come in contact with the objects through the sense-organs.
--He who can understand that the objects of the world are in a state of flux, are constantly coming into existence and perishing --- he will not allow himself to be tossed about by the existence or non-existence of the finite things of the world. In the flood of time, things and incidents, circumstances and environments flow up to our present from the unknown FUTURE, to give us vivid experiences of varied intensity, and they, in their very nature, cannot remain permanently, but must, of necessity, pass on to become one with the entire PAST. Nothing can remain the same, even for a short period, in the world-of-objects where change alone is the changeless law.
--Having understood this finite nature of the changeable objects-of-the-world, wherein everyone of them has a beginning and an end, on no occasion need a wise man despair the least, of things THAT ARE, or of things THAT ARE NOT. Heat and cold, success or failure, pain or joy none of them can be permanent.
--Since every situation, of its own nature, must keep on changing, it would be foolish to get ourselves upset at every change noticed. It is wisdom to suffer them meekly with the comfort and consolation of the knowledge of their finite nature. It is the attitude of the wise to go through life, both in joy and sorrow, in success and failure, in pain and joy, with the constant awareness: "Even this will pass away."
--The external world of challenges is finite inasmuch as it has a beginning and an end. Not only that, Krishna adds, "they are impermanent by their very nature." By the term "impermanent" used here, the Lord means that the same object which gives pleasure at one moment starts yielding, at another moment, pain to the experiencer. This inconsistency is indicated by the term 'anitya' in the stanza. |
Edited by - rkishan on Jun 25 2010 12:23:46 PM |
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djey308
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - Aug 17 2010 : 6:35:44 PM
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wow, i have to say bravo these responses. even though basically conceptualization causes suffering was what was explained, they were all eloquent in their perspectives. *defining right and wrong, *conceptualization of emotion and separateness, *and realizing the truth of impermanence: "Even this will pass away." grand.
i love this place. thanks for posting CE, these gems helped me as well. |
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Clear White Light
USA
229 Posts |
Posted - Aug 18 2010 : 08:34:18 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by ConsciousEvolution
Yet I am left questioning myself and the mechanism at work behind this vicious circle as to why one must experience this over and over again?
And furthermore, I ask myself how does one extricate oneself once and for all from this sorrowful and dual way of life?
Stop thinking, evaluating and judging. It's as simple as that. The mind's questioning tendency it's self is the problem. Learn to overcome the tendency of the mind to judge and evaluate and there will be no more problems for you, ever. How can there be suffering with no mind to judge it so? |
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Kirtanman
USA
1651 Posts |
Posted - Aug 18 2010 : 5:32:45 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Clear White Light
quote:
Originally posted by ConsciousEvolution
Yet I am left questioning myself and the mechanism at work behind this vicious circle as to why one must experience this over and over again?
And furthermore, I ask myself how does one extricate oneself once and for all from this sorrowful and dual way of life?
Stop thinking, evaluating and judging. It's as simple as that. The mind's questioning tendency it's self is the problem. Learn to overcome the tendency of the mind to judge and evaluate and there will be no more problems for you, ever. How can there be suffering with no mind to judge it so?
Awesome response, Clear White Light; beautifully, simply and accurately put; thank you.
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Aug 18 2010 : 8:31:42 PM
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Kirtanman - loved your response. Really struck me.
I've gradually (since reading the power of now 2 years ago) began to live this as the truth in my own life. Slowly, but surely, conceptual reality is losing it's power to send me off into emotional reactivity.
In fact @ ConsciousEvolution - I know what you're experiencing. I've experienced, and regularly experience something which is at least similar:
1 - the pain arises (fear/grief/anger or a combination of those)
2 - I see the conceptual story that arises in my mind (take anger for example, and the story: 'he/she's so arrogant! how dare they talk to me like that! [insert aggressive response here])
3 - I feel the intensity of the emotion
4 - I may do something like Kirtanman. If it's fear, I may ask 'is anything terrible happening right now?'. If it's anger 'would this get Buddha/Jesus pissed off?' etc.
5 - I slip into a state of not judging the emotion, or the story. Allowing them to be. Or if I feel huge resistance to the emotional pain, then I allow that to be also.
6 - Laughter often arises. Pain subsides.
7 - Peace arises.
I stay rooted in the now, and not caught up in the mind. [repeat cycle!] |
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Cyclical Realizations of Self-Created Sorrow
