September 6, 2023

How to get rid of suffering? | The human mind and the condition of insanity | Psychological escapes

In our meetings here, we work together to discover the Truth about who we are. So, we are before something really fascinating; we are investigating the Truth and having the clear Revelation of What becomes fundamental to our lives, to a really free life, a really happy life, a life in peace.

So, the Truth of the Spiritual Awakening, the Spiritual Enlightenment, is the Truth of the Consciousness of Being, and this is Happiness. We need to become aware of this Freedom for the end of suffering. People ask questions like, “How do I get rid of suffering?” “How do I free myself from suffering?” but it is a question I have said that we need to investigate because the matter is not how to get rid of suffering. This psychological suffering that gives rise to physical, emotional, and sentimental suffering, in my viewpoint, is something entirely unnecessary in our lives, and here we are working toward the end of this kind of suffering.

If we have physical pain, we go to a doctor. If, for example, you have a toothache, there's something wrong with the root of the tooth, with the tooth itself, you go to a specialist, he gives you a diagnosis and treats it; this shows us that it is not natural to have teeth in our mouths and pain present. So, this shows us that a tooth in your mouth needs to be healthy, can't be sick, and it is not natural to have a tooth in your mouth and pain present; it requires treatment and care, and with this treatment, the pain disappears.

Thus, suffering in us is something entirely unnecessary. I'm referring to this psychological suffering, which encompasses a wide range of suffering aspects. In my viewpoint, that is something completely unnecessary because it is not natural. The matter is: how to deal with this suffering, and how to approach it? And the mere question “How to get rid of suffering?” is not enough; it does not work. It is when you have a toothache and ask someone: “How can I get rid of this pain?” That is something theoretical and conceptual. You need to go to a specialist and need treatment.

Psychologically, this sense of identity, the “I” in us, is not something natural, real, or true. So, we are dealing with something that presents itself as an observable fact; pain is something like that. We cannot deny the existence of pain as the fact it is, but we need to investigate the nature of this pain, find the root of it, and go beyond it. Then, the end to suffering consists in understanding what it represents because it is not real, in the sense that it is not natural, even though it presents itself as a fact in our lives.

So, the work on yourself is to acknowledge the truth of this fact, which is suffering. The verification of this fact, which is suffering, is the end to this suffering. Here, we come across something paradoxical. Suffering is a fact; however, I am already saying that it is not a reality in your Being; it is only a reality in this movement, which is the movement of one's own “I,” one's own ego-identity – I refer to this suffering. Thus, we are not before something natural; we are before a fact that shows itself because, psychologically, we live within an egoic identification, loaded with this sense of an identity separated from life, existence, Reality, and God.

The work on yourself is the end of the ego and, therefore, the end of the illusion of this identity, which determines the end of this psychological fact that is suffering. So, we have to approach ourselves by looking at this fact; we cannot deny it; we cannot create an idea about it; we cannot look for a concept of freedom outside of this investigation, outside of this inquiry. In other words, we can create an idea, an imagination of not suffering; we can ask ourselves: “How can I stop suffering?” and all this will remain on a merely intellectual, verbal level. Thus, we are not coming into contact with this fact.

Here, in this work, we are studying ourselves, approaching a vision of what we are, having a direct verification of this psychological condition of existence separate from Truth. Here, on the channel, we have called it the principle of separateness or duality. It is the illusion of an entity that separates itself from experience, and by doing so, it perpetuates these aspects of ego identity. Some of these aspects of ego identity are fear, envy, jealousy, depression, and anxiety. Then, this sense of an “I” that separates itself with these sustains this condition of suffering, and all of this represents the unhappiness of the “I.” So, the human being suffers from fear, envy, jealousy, anxiety, and depression; this is something typical of this mental consciousness, this consciousness of the “I,” this human mind. That is not natural to your Being, I repeat, even though it appears common to all of us in this psychological condition of existing, of living, in the sense of being “someone” within the experience of life.

The Self-Awareness work is to verify the Truth of your own Being, observing and becoming aware of what you appear to be, what you show, and what you express yourself to be. The observation of the movement of the mind, of the “I,” of this egoic identity, this sense of separation, the awareness of this is the end of this psychological condition of being “someone,” then, we are before the Reality of our Being, the Truth of our Divine Nature, our Essential Nature. Thus, we have the end to this psychological suffering with physical, emotional, and sentimental aspects, and we carry this quality of suffering throughout our lives. There is nothing natural about it, even though it is a life we recognize as something common to all. As we have just said, if you have a problem in your mouth or a toothache, you go to a specialist because it is not natural to live with a toothache. However, we have become accustomed to this psychological condition of a separate identity, of looking at ourselves, looking at the world, and situating ourselves in this existence as being “someone” within the experience.

We have become accustomed, molded to this artificial condition of existence, of living a life in this sense of an “I,” a personal identity present. The result is that all suffering is present in our lives, so we live in conflict. We have come to accept this as something natural within us due to habit, custom, practice, and continuity, as this is the common condition around us. What is the Truth about who we are? We don't know it. What are the ideas about who we are? There are many; we have various ideas, and we live within these principles of ideas, these concepts and beliefs, accommodated to this condition of this sense of an “I” that separates itself from the other, from life, from God. There is this pain, this suffering – the pain of comparison, judgment, anxiety, fear, despair, anguish, the pain of loneliness; when it becomes too intense, too worrying, we seek out a specialist. When it becomes difficult or very complicated to deal with, only then do we go to a specialist, and they help us; however, it doesn't end with this condition – the condition of this psychological suffering – because it requires something more than therapeutic care.

The end to all of this means the end to the illusion of this sense of separation, of this ego-identity, this personal sense of being “someone” within experience, in living, in relationships with people, situations, and one's own thoughts, feelings, emotions, and sensations. So, work in that direction becomes necessary, and it is work that no one else can do for us; it is the work within ourselves. By becoming aware of the truth of how we function, this way we can understand these aspects of the “I,” the ego, and discover in ourselves this whole format of being “someone,” all this programming in this format of feeling, thinking, within this entire context of culture, society and the world. Through this, we can see that we live within a constant sense of guilt, evaluation, comparison, and judgment of external experiences and what goes on inside each of us. Through this, we verify that this way of life, of existence, is merely a cultural conditioning. Are you with me? We have learned to live like this.

We become accustomed to living like this; we get used to living like this, so this quality of psychological condition in human minds carries this aspect of insanity. Internally and psychologically, we have the presence of this suffering, and it also touches on these physical and emotional aspects of our lives. All of this happens because there is no Truth of Self-Awareness, no verification of what goes on inside each of us. We do not notice that the same conditioning, the same programming, the same model of existence of our grandparents and parents is present here and now, in each of us, a thing of human culture, of humanity. We have settled into this condition; we are used to living within this pattern, model, conditioning, this psychological, emotional, sentimental, and physical conditioning, so suffering is present.

So, for the question “How do I get rid of suffering?” we need to get closer to it, to these psychological aspects of the “I.” Investigating the nature of the “I” is, in fact, getting to know the structure and the nature of suffering, of this psychological suffering that is also physical and emotional in each of us, and we can only get closer to this if we have an appreciation to look at it. We have touched on something very delicate here; we do not have this appreciation to look at it because, as I have just said, first of all, we are already used to this condition, and why are we used to it? And because secondly, we have a movement already present within us of how to lessen, diminish, and alleviate this thing. We are all too used to this condition because we have various psychological escape mechanisms for the emotional and sentimental pain, the psychological disorder. We are always running away, escaping from it all the time, so we do not approach it; that is the delicate point now. We do not get close enough to look at it, to experience the suffering. It is not living in this condition of suffering because we have been doing that for millennia. Here, I refer to living the suffering, becoming aware of what suffering is, this psychological suffering. When we look at this suffering without separating ourselves from it, the question is: what happens? We never look at an anguish, a worry, a fear, an anxious state, never look at it; when we feel it, we immediately want to get rid of that pain. That is why we ask: “How can I get rid of it?” because the idea is that this “I” is getting rid of the experience.

Here, it is about approaching it, looking at fear, anxiety, and depression with no ideas, beliefs, or thought models about it, or how to get rid of it, to do something with this experience. That is what I am calling living with it. The work consists of having an approach to look at what arises here and now to become aware of what is showing itself. You only become aware if you do not separate yourself if you live the thing. Live the fear. It is not “I” fear and “I” anxious, “I” sad, “I” worried. When you live the experience, the “I” disappears. The experience is present, but there is no longer this “I.” Look at the beauty of this contact with living the experience without the “I,” without separating yourself from the experience. You always separate yourself when you want to get rid of it, judge it, and compare it when you want to do something with it. So, that is how we have been doing it. We never come into contact with the experience directly without the experiencer. We are constantly interfering, intervening, trying to do something with it. That is why we are inclined to run away, to escape, and then, we never live the experience intensely.

It is only possible to live the experience intensely when the “I” is not present and, when the “I” is not there and the experience is present without this separation, the understanding arises in the closeness to this direct experience. And when there is this understanding, it is not intellectual. There is an understanding because there is an end to this separateness, and, when understood, it dissolves – worries, fear, anxiety, and guilt dissolve because there is no sense of an “I” investing as the experiencer of this experience. So, this is an approach to Self-Awareness, which gives you the basis for getting closer to Real Meditation. In an experiential, practical way, this contact with the experience without the experiencer is the end of that experience, so something new arises. This Something new is the end of suffering. Suffering is present because there is this separation, an “I” separating itself from the experience to try to get rid of it, change it, or do something with it. Therefore, it is not something you can ask someone else to do in your place, for you.

That is the work we are doing together – also in online encounters. Here in the video description, you can find our WhatsApp group to participate in these online meetings. In addition, we have face-to-face meetings and retreats, where we are working on this with you. We want to give you this invitation. As a reminder, please like the video, write “Yes, this makes sense” in the comment, and subscribe to the channel. See you next time!

August, 2023
Gravatá-PE, Brazil
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