Self-awareness and the existential void. How to deal with the existential void? First, we have to get closer to it. In general, we want to get rid of what produces suffering, what makes us suffer. We need to understand the problem and not get rid of the problem.
The initial idea is that when we get rid of the problem, it actually disappears – when we deal with psychological issues.
And here we are dealing with this element, which is this “I,” this “me,” the ego.
This is not how we should deal with problems; this is not a true way of dealing with problems, with the problems of this “me,” this “I,” this ego. We cannot get rid of problems.
We seem to get rid of the problem when it is forgotten. We have several ways to get rid of problems. In order to forget problems, we have several escape routes from that particular problem, and apparently, we get rid of that problem – but not.
We can temporarily forget the problem, and then we believe it has dissolved, it has disappeared, and that’s not how it works. The ego doesn't get rid of problems and there’s a reason for that: the ego lives and feeds itself from problems.
It would never get rid of something as a problem, because problem, in fact, is the ego itself.
Its existence is the existence of the problem. This explains why we can’t be free from fear – fear is a problem.
We can escape fear, we can flee from fear, we can get rid of fear, and yet the fear is still there. We can never go beyond fear by getting rid of, escaping, running away, because the presence of fear is the presence of “I,” it is the presence of the ego, it is the presence of that sense of identity.
Understand why there is no cure. There is no cure for the ego! And if there is no cure for the ego, what we can have are ways to manage psychological unhappiness. These frames of psychological unhappiness can be managed. We can learn to deal with the existential void, but we cannot get rid of existential void; we can learn to deal with anxiety, with depression… Here, we need Self-awareness – and here I mean True Self-awareness.
We have a playlist here, on our channel, about Self-awareness, what Self-awareness is – True Self-awareness. It is not the Self-awareness of books, it is not the Self-awareness of psychologists, it is not the Self-awareness of philosophy, of psychology. It is the Self-awareness that we approach through self-inquiry, through self-investigation.
When we learn the art of looking at what we are, here and now, without escaping, without running away, without getting rid of this problem that arises... Notice, this problem is present when this sense of “I” is present. So, this problem “is me.” When we learn to look at it, this Self-awareness, True Self-awareness.
This approach of this truth of the problem is the way to deal, the real way to deal with the existential void, the real way to deal with depression, the real way to deal with anxiety.
The question is this: how to deal with anxiety? How to deal with depression? How to deal with the existential void? So, the subject here, for you, is this: Self-awareness and the anxiety, Self-awareness and existential void, Self-awareness and depression.
How to deal with it? How to deal with depression? How to deal with the existential void? How to deal with anxiety? Getting closer to the problem.
If we want to understand something, we cannot move away, reject it, throw it away from us.
We have to approach it first. If we want to discover that, to know what it is, what it represents, we come closer to it. A scientist approaches it, in his laboratory.
He, in his laboratory, approaches the experience. He does not move away, he approaches, he examines, he looks, he investigates, he observes, he gets closer, very close to what he is investigating, he studies it. This is what we need: to study ourselves, to look at ourselves, here and now; look at this individualistic posture, this posture of separateness, of censure, of criticism, of comparison, of self-judgment, of self-condemnation and the condemnation of others, and censure...
We need to get closer to that, to what we are. We need to study ourselves, look at present envy, present ambition, present imagination, thoughts, which are memories of the past, memories, recollections, bringing guilt, bringing regret, bringing remorse, bringing feelings of frustration, of inadequacy, projecting fear.
We need to discover that these internal states, such as this existential void, this state of internal insufficiency or this present anxiety, this negative anticipation or these conditions of depression, these internal states of unhappiness are present because of these thoughts, these memories, these remembrances, what that thought is producing here and now.
Thought brings this and places a present identity feeling self-commiseration, feeling self-pity, feeling sorry for yourself, comparing yourself to what hasn't happened yet for this “me,” which makes “me” this way, as if something there outside, that thought imagines... something has not come, and this is causing this pain, this psychological suffering.
This needs to be noticed. We have to get closer to that sense of present “I” separating from that thought and wanting to do something with it.
Notice that when you are in internal states of suffering, thought is always there, putting an identity there – it is you and the state. So, there’s always separation, there’s a duality: it’s you sad, it’s you anguished, it’s you depressed, it’s you anxious, it’s you and this void… there’s always you and the experience. This division, this space, this separateness between you and the experience is sustaining the very state of psychological suffering.
Notice what we're saying. It is exactly in this separateness, in this division, in this duality, that this frame of suffering is settled; this is where the pain of the void is settled, or the pain of anxiety, or the pain of loneliness, or the pain of depression, it doesn't matter. These internal states of suffering, of unhappiness, are states of psychological unhappiness, upheld by this “me,” by this ego; it is this that is sustaining division, this illusory center, this illusory identity. Looking at it, approaching it, is fundamental.
So, it’s not about letting go, escaping or running away – that’s what we've done. We flee, we run away. There are temporary reliefs from this pain when we escape it. The human being carries different forms of escape for this sense of “I.” In some, this sense of “I” carries a greater burden of suffering than others, but basically every human being living in this sense of “I” carries this egoic consciousness.
And in that egoic consciousness, fear is common to all; anxiety, sadness, melancholy, frustration, this is something common to all, although we also have many moments of fulfillment, of joy, of satisfaction, of external fulfillment, when something that our “I” expected to happen takes place. But when our “I” realizes that what it expected didn't turn out, it feels frustrated.
So, we always live in this binomial between pleasure and pain, joy and sadness, health and illness – and here I mean psychologically.
This sense of ego-identity, this sense of the “I” in us, is basically insanity, suffering.
Awakening, Enlightenment, is the end of all this, and This is because of this contact with Self-awareness. Self-awareness makes this problem dissolve, makes this situation disappear, because You, in your Being, are Happiness, are Love, Peace, Freedom, and Intelligence; in your Being, You are God.
Therefore, here, we are inviting you to the Recognition of your Nature, which is Love, which is Peace, which is Happiness. This is possible when you transcend this limit, an imposed limit, which you have imposed on yourself out of unconsciousness.
The unconsciousness about the Yourself, the non-perception of the Reality of your own Being, created this self-limitation, this condition.
It is possible to go beyond that by Realizing the Truth of your Being, Realizing the Happiness of your Divine Nature. So, there are no more escape means, you no longer need to use drugs, you no longer need to drink, you no longer need to eat, you no longer need… to temporarily escape this pain.
That’s how we've been behaving. We get involved with practices, with habits, which, soon, become addictions. This gives us temporary relief from this pain, but it doesn't solve it.
Even the various practices linked to religious practices, such as the practice of meditation itself – here I mean meditation as people generally practice, in the sense of being temporarily free from these internal sufferings.
I know it helps, but it only helps, it doesn't solve it, because the end of psychological suffering is when the egoic sense, the “I” sense, disappears – This is Spiritual Enlightenment.
In the meantime, you can practice some breathing technique or meditation and get temporary relief. Other people use drugs, other people eat, and other people drink, and other people engage in sexual practices or various other practices, and there they get a certain momentary, temporary relief from the pain they carry within themselves. But it haunts them, because the sense of “I” is there. And when the sense of “I” disappears, in that Realization of the Truth about who You are, there comes Real Happiness, Real Love, Real Peace, Real Realization. OK?
This is our message here for you within these meetings, here on our channel.
If this is something that makes sense to you, leave your “like” there, subscribe to the channel... I want to remind you: we have online meetings, face-to-face meetings, including retreats, to work on This: the end of suffering, the Realization of Enlightenment or the Realization of God in this life, OK?
See you in our next meeting.
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