How to get out of suffering?

Some people have asked the question "how to get out of suffering?", "how to go beyond suffering?", "how to stop suffering?"

See, suffering has many, many aspects. So, there are many ways of suffering, and basically suffering is conflict. Every form of conflict… it presents itself as suffering.

Now, there is a difference between pain, a pain that is physical, and suffering, between suffering itself and the physical pain. We cannot confuse pain with suffering. That psychological pain, yes, is suffering, but this physical pain, linked to the body, is not necessarily suffering. It's just pain.

If we are talking here about suffering, we are talking about this psychological characteristic that involves this separate identity, that involves this personal sense of an identity present, this "me." So, when we talk about suffering, we are talking about the suffering of the "I," the suffering of this "me," this "person."

So here, the question is "who are you?", "what is this person basically?". If we want to find the end of suffering, we need to find out what truth exists in the "person," what the reality of the "person" is, what basically is a "person."

In fact, "person" is a set of memories, a set of remembrances. A huge amount of imagination and there it is the so called "person."

This "sense of person" is an illusion. So, the basis of suffering is the illusion of the "person." If we are working towards the end of suffering in ourselves, we need to find out the Truth about who we are, who we are, who "I" am. Once I realize that this "me" is a set of images, a set of memories, something based on a self-image, an image engendered by thought... once this is seen, a work of deconstruction of this false self-image is possible, this thought-based self-image.

This happens through a work of self-investigation, a work of surrendering and giving up this illusion. This is where the work of self-inquiry, meditation and surrender takes place.

So, the work of the Realization of the Truth about who You are, which represents the end of this psychological complexity, this illusion of self-image, with memories, recollections… The end of that, is the end of suffering.

So, how to go beyond suffering? Just letting go of the illusion of that false identity, letting it fall, letting it go. For this to be possible, for this to happen, this Consciousness needs to be present, this Attention needs to be present. So, the work of self-knowledge – and, here, the word "self-knowledge" is not in the sense of knowing the "I", but in the sense of becoming aware of what this "I" represents – is something fundamental.

Your work of Self-Realization is the work of discarding this illusion, the illusion of this sense of a separate identity solving, making choices, deciding, attached to, mixed up with experiences of thoughts, feelings, sensations, perceptions... The abandonment of this false identity is the abandonment of suffering. It is the abandonment of this "I," this "me," this illusion, the illusion of separateness. This is the end of suffering. This is the way to solve this issue, definitively and completely.

December, 2021
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
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