Discovering Negative Ideas

Negative Ideas In Depth

The journey of discovering Negative Ideas progresses with Self-Knowing.

Self-Knowing is about Knowing one's Mind.

As we are essentially consciousness beings occupying a physical body, to know the Mind is to Know The Self.

When we lack Self-Knowing, the Suffering States of the mind can become a mysterious and tricky phenomenon to deal with. Confusions can arise from a lack of Self-Knowing:

Why am I unhappy?

Why do I experience fears?

Am I angry?

What is the cause of my stress?

Without Self-Knowing, the sufferings can appear as elusive as a monster's reflection in the water—it's there but at the same time not quite. Without knowing the what and where, no matter how many sticks and pebbles we throw at it, it will simply re-emerge again and again, unscathed from our assaults.

This is a familiar scenario most people will face—not knowing how to properly confront the dark states of the mind.

Some may not even question the means to liberate themselves from their Sufferings. Because without Self-Knowing, it can be so easy for one to fall into the belief that the Suffering States of the mind is an irremovable part of life; some may even consider it necessary. For instance, there are many people these days who believe that worrying about problems or someone they love is a natural or an essential thing to practice in life even if it's clear to them how much misery the state of worrying can bring.

The journey of creating greater happiness is to realize that Suffering is there to be overcome, to be released rather than clung. But to liberate ourselves from our Sufferings, the cause of our Sufferings will need to be discovered.

So, let us talk more in-depth about Negative Ideas.

To talk about Negative Ideas with words is somewhat difficult as meaning can be lost through words. With that in mind, you can just use the explanations given here as step-stones to realize what Negative Ideas are from your own experience.

I have created the term Negative Ideas to describe the seed cause of the Suffering States of the mind for the sake of making it easier for others to understand. For me, however, the more precise definition for Negative Ideas are the distortions of the Truth to the Deeper Mind.

When we experience unhappiness, we are essentially experiencing the distortion of the Truth that The Self is not infinite and whole. To the deeper mind, this is the One Truth that is absolute and unchanging. The Truth becomes distorted when the Infinite Self points to the mirror and points to parts of itself in rejection, i.e. that is not me, this is not me.

Self-Rejection creates energetic distortions in the consciousness, which can be understood as imbalances or confusion, and experienced as limitations, weakness, fears, unhappiness— the Suffering States of the mind.

Negative Ideas was a concept that I had created to help you understand this hard-to-grasp phenomenon that happens deep in the suffering mind, the realms that one cannot understand until one experiences themselves in meditation. So there's no need to take what I say word for word as the absolute Truth. Negative Ideas are simply an analogy, a structure that you can use for your journey of discovering the cause of your own Suffering, the beliefs you hold that promote Self-Rejection.

Within, we can hold an infinite number of beliefs that can promote the state of Self-Rejection

For instance,

• "I hate that arrogant person"
• "People will not like me if I fail"
• "Job interviews are horrible"

Negative Ideas was created to simplify the process of discovery by asking one to transcribe their suffering experiences with "It is not ok...." because all Ideas in this form will promote Self-Rejection.

I.e.

• "It is not ok to stand out in the crowd"
• "It is not ok to be looked down upon"
• "It is not ok to fail"

Sometimes, it can be difficult to transcribe Suffering experience into Negative Ideas because either the suffering one is experience is too subtle, or that The Self has yet to develop the awareness of Knowing the beliefs driving the suffering experience.

Sometimes, there can also be numerous Negative Ideas driving the one suffering experience, which can create further confusions.

That is why it is important to practice meditation so that one can develop The Self-Knowing from experience rather than dwell in the intellectual game of guesses.

There are many guided meditation that you can try on the course page, most of which will help guide you into the state of Stillness, the state of observing rather than thinking so that you can see the beginnings of your Unstillness, the cause of which will always stem from your Negative Ideas.

Thus, the more you allow yourself to experience Stillness, the more you will be able to understand what Negative Ideas are.

The reason why I chose the word "Ok" was for the word's neutrality. If other words such as good/bad were used, unwanted connotative meanings can come through. "It is ok" thus is a declaration to describe the mind at the state of Acceptance, not because something is good or bad, but simply out of unconditional love.