Chapter V
Knowing The Suffering
What is Suffering?
Suffering is the negative states of the mind.
I.e. the states of anger, fear, jealousy, doubts etc.
To simplify, see Suffering as the state of Unhappiness. As long as you are experiencing some kind of unhappiness, you are Suffering!
What is the Cause Of Suffering?
When one looks outward for the cause of their unhappiness, one will start to blame what they see, i.e. to see that it's someone's rude remark as the cause of one's anger or the job interview as the cause for the horrible fears.
However, the deeper Causes can only be found by turning one's sight inwards—into the world of The Self—The true place from which all Sufferings arise.
The deeper you know the cause to a problem, the deeper the solutions you will find.
By looking inwards, you will be able to discover the deeper causes of your Sufferings and their deeper solutions.
For instance, one can wipe a floor to solve the wetness. But without discovering the deeper causes, such as the leaking pipe inside the wall, the floor will become wet again no matter how many times one wipes it dry.
That is why developing Self-Knowing is so crucial on the journey of Self-Transformation. When we lack the Knowing of the Deeper Causes of our Sufferings, we can end up facing them like fighting fire by attacking the flames. By Knowing the deeper cause, one will be able to address their Sufferings at the wick instead of wasting time and effort achieving nothing but pain.
To fully extinguish the Sufferings, address the source so that it will not ignite again!
Thus the importance of developing the Knowing Of The Self cannot be stressed enough. The more you Know yourself, the more you will know the deeper Causes of your unhappiness.
The Journey of Self-Knowing will take time and effort.
But the results will be Life-Changing.
The quickest way to develop Self-Knowing is through the practice of meditation.
And through meditation, you will be able to realize how suffering begins within your mind. Here's a guide that you can use to realize your own truth.
The Creation Of Suffering
Suffering grows like that of a Tree.
It begins with a Seed, and from it, emerges the Roots, to the Leaves of possibilities.
Negative Idea (The Seed)
All begins with an Idea
Realize that the mind is that is Infinite in Potential.
i.e.
"You are what you believe"
Suffering begins when that Truth becomes Distorted through one's attachment to Self-Limiting Beliefs.
These Distortions can be understood as Negative Ideas.
Negative Ideas are Ideas that promote Self-Rejection.
For instance
"I am a horrible person if I am selfish."
"He is a terrible person because he is arrogant."
"I look too fat to be liked."
etc.
Negative Ideas are can be simplified as Self-Declarations beginning with
"It is not ok...."
For instance
"It is not ok to be selfish."
"It is not ok to be arrogant."
"It is not ok to be fat."
When we become attached to Negative Ideas, we are declaring that only certain parts of the Infinite Self are acceptable.
These Self-Rejecting Beliefs will create ripples of Distortions in the Consciousness
The Distortions—or Confusion—are experienced as Suffering throughout all levels of The Self.
Let us explore how Suffering is experienced
Negative Thoughts/Emotions (The Roots)
(i.e. Anger, Fears, judgement, doubt, worries, and so forth)
Negative Ideas will be experienced at the Level of the Emotional and Mental Self as Negative Emotions / Thoughts.
The severity of the experience will increase the more one is attached to their Negative Ideas.
For example
The Negative Idea— "It is not ok to be lazy" will promote Negative thoughts towards oneself.
i.e. "I should not be lazy."
And also towards Other Selves.
i.e."That Person should not be lazy."
And then Negative Emotions will follow, such as Anger, Frustration, the need to control others and so forth.
And by declaring that "It is not ok to be lazy", The Self will also begin to fear being judged by others for being lazy.
Negative Ideas thus distorts one's Reality to become Negative.
Negative Physical Manifestation (The Leaves)
(Hands sweating, irregular heart beating, confusion, tension, etc.)
The Negative Reactions—Thoughts/Emotions— will be experienced by the Physical Self as Negative Sensations on the body, for example, discomfort in the belly, heat on the face, the racing of one's heart beat, the increase in tension and stress on the body, sweat, and so forth.
NB: Even the subtlest of reactions can bring about negative sensations on the body. Without meditation, one will lack such self-awareness.
The prolonged dwelling in these negative sensations not only bring great stress to the body and mind but can also lead one to develop diseases of the body and mind!
And Negative reactions / sensations will drive one to live one's life a certain way.
For example, when one rejects the Selfish part of The Self, one can become subconsciously driven to maintain a hard-working appearance out of the fear that others may reject them for being lazy.
Now, what do we do with all this information?
What you can do now is to realize that whenever you experience the negative states of the body and mind, i.e. Fears, Stress, Disease, and so forth, you are really experiencing the result of your attachment to Negative Ideas.
So, next time when you experience a Suffering Experience, for instance, when you experience anger towards someone, you can explore for the Negative Ideas driving the experience by asking the following question—
"What am I not ok with in this experience"?
I.e.
Which will help you to find all sorts of Negative Ideas—
I.e.
"It is not ok for him to be rude to me."
"It is not ok for him to be arrogant."
"It is not ok to be embarrassed."
etc.
This is how you can discover the Seed Causes of your Sufferings!
Having explored the Seed Cause of Suffering, let us look at the ways to transform it!
