Here the question is: “How to get rid of suffering?” However, there is a question that needs to be asked first so that we have a direct answer to what this thing of dealing with suffering is like, dealing with suffering, putting an end to suffering. The question is: Who is this that is involved in the contradiction, the dilemma, the conflict, the pain, the fear? Who is this that is involved in suffering? Who is that? Who is this “I” that wants to get rid of suffering?
So, notice what we're going to work on here with you over the next few minutes. First, we have to understand where this suffering takes place. Note that this suffering is something that is processed in us internally, psychologically, so it is within this system or this internal psychological movement, this suffering. And what is this psychological system, this psychological movement made up of? What, in fact, is this “I”?
Observe this: in general, the idea we have is the idea of someone present, here, right now. We never doubt the truth of being someone in life, in living, in experience. We never question the veracity of this “I” present in this instant. However, if you look closely, you'll realize that this “I” in you represents a set of memories, recollections and ideas. That's what this identity, this psychological system, this condition of being someone is made up of.
The idea of being someone is a thought, a simple thought of a person present, speaking, thinking, acting and feeling. And, here in this case, feeling suffering within the experience of suffering. So, you see, there is suffering and someone present feeling that suffering, experiencing that suffering. Now, what is the truth of this “I”, of the one who feels, of this experiencer? What is the truth of this suffering?
Observe when suffering happens to us, it's a reaction to something that we don't want for ourselves, that we don't want at this moment, in this instant, for our lives. If you lose a loved one or if someone you love has an accident and is hospitalized; or if you find yourself having to pay a bill and you're out of money, this represents, within you, this internal condition of suffering.
Suffering is like a blow you receive; it can be physical or psychological. This is the presence of suffering: you receive a blow, something that you don't want, that you don't want, something that you're not expecting to live, to feel, to have, and suddenly, it arrives, and when it arrives it hits you. It's like a blow that hits your body or a blow that hits you psychologically. So, there's a reaction in that body and mind; that reaction is suffering.
Suffering is basically the pain present in that experience. What we need to understand is that, in order to end this pain, we need to understand who the element affected by this pain is. We need to take an entirely new approach to this question of suffering. In general, the alternative for most of us is to try to get rid of suffering or to run away from suffering. This running away or getting rid of is what we generally call “solving.” We believe that the problem has been solved, because the suffering at that moment has been solved, because the pain has been eliminated.
In general, we never come into direct contact with the understanding of suffering and what is involved in suffering. All we want is for the suffering to be resolved, and in order to do so, we run away or look for a solution, so there is always a movement of looking for a solution or running away. Our approach here is a little different. This search for a solution or this escape – please note – is never the truth of the end to suffering, to this problem. We are always escaping, fleeing or temporarily resolving the pain, the issue of pain, the issue of suffering.
Here we are interested, with you, in discovering the root of this pain. The root of this pain consists of looking – realizing the root of it consists of looking at where it arises. So, if there's a loss for “me,” if there's a loved one being lost there in death, because death has occurred and this pain hits, or if an accident occurs and I'm surprised with the news of a relative in hospital, hospitalized, or if, in this case of a debt, I don't know what to do to really resolve it, I can have expedients to try to escape this situation, and that's what we've been doing.
When we come across these situations, we can deal with it in a direct way or we can look for this path, which is the common path for most people. Here we are interested in getting to the root of this pain, this suffering. First of all, let's see one thing here: if we have to deal with a problem, if that problem can be solved, it needs to be solved. If it can be physically attended to, it needs to be attended to. That's not what we're talking about.
We're talking about this internal, psychological pain. We are dealing with this psychological suffering that is present within each of us. Rejection, anguish, fear, worry, you see, these are all forms of suffering. So, it's this suffering that we need to get rid of. Every situation can be dealt with physically, and if something happens that can't be changed, because physically this is like this, this is already a fact, there's nothing to be done, but psychologically we're carrying this pain. So, what's the root of it?
By looking we'll realize that the root of this pain lies in this sense of separation, where there is someone within the experience. Experience is what happens or what has happened. So, in the face of what is here, it is what is happening; in the face of what has happened, thought creates a story about what has happened, about the experience that has occurred or about what is here, at this moment happening. Thought creates a story, observe it in yourself. The identity of the “I,” the one who feels this pain, is the identity of thought. It is thought that creates an identity, in the rejection of what is happening here or in the rejection of what has happened.
So, we have two things here: we have the fact happening or the fact that has happened, and we have the idea about the fact that has happened or about the fact of what is happening here. This idea is the presence of an identity in us. You don't have any other identity in you, being you, other than the idea of someone present, in front of the facts. So, we have what is here, which is a fact, and we have what has already happened, which is also a fact, but we have the idea. It's thought that rejects, that fights, that creates opinions, concepts, judgments, accepts or rejects the facts. This thought is the idea.
It's in this idea that this identity is, which is the “I,” so we have this separation. Life as it happens or as it happened and someone's idea in that life, which is thought. We have the thinker in us, to think about it, to evaluate it, to judge it, to reject it. This is where suffering lies. Suffering is present not in what happens or in what has happened, but in the idea, in the thinker. The presence of this “I” is the thinker, this “I” is an idea. So, notice this: there is no “I” present without the idea of someone in the experience.
That someone is the thinker, who rejects what is here as a fact, as a reality. What has happened cannot be changed, it already happened; and what we have here, right now, is a fact. It is possible to have a direct approximation of this and deal with it in a very practical, objective, physical way. However, we have this element in us which is the psychological element, the thinker, thought, the idea, the “I.” This approach that we have is so illusory that, for example, we have the illusion of being able to deal with thoughts.
People ask: “How to deal with thoughts?” The idea is that the present “I” is the thinker and can attend to thoughts, resolve thoughts. However, it's the present thoughts that bring the idea of a thinker behind them. The very thought in you creates the idea of someone separate from thought to deal with thought. We have to investigate this, realize the illusion we've been living in for millennia. Thought has created belief – thought itself is belief – it has sustained the belief of a thinker present, producing thoughts, wanting to deal with thoughts – again we have this separation.
So, based on the illusion that there is a thinker behind thought, that there is someone behind experience, being that someone the experiencer, so we sustain pain. This is where we see the root of the problem, the root of suffering: it's duality. This duality is the observer, who is the thinker, observing thoughts in order to get rid of intrusive thoughts, to get rid of negative thoughts. “How to get rid of intrusive, negative, bad, obsessive thoughts?” This is where we have a great illusion, the illusion of this “I” being the center of experience.
Experience can be a thought or suffering. It's thought itself rejecting the facts as they appear. This is how pain arises, this is how suffering arises, this is thought itself fighting against itself. Thought is negative and it rises up against itself, so there's this duality – that's when the thinker wants to get rid of thought. The psychological, repetitive, continuous, addicted movement of thought in us is producing this sufferer separating oneself from suffering. That's an idea, it's producing the thinker separating from thought.
So, this internal movement in us is what sustains suffering in us; it sustains this psychological restlessness in us, this movement of chattering thoughts, negative, obsessive, intrusive, bad thoughts. How can one be free of this psychological condition? By becoming aware of this present movement, which is the movement of duality. When there is an end to this psychological condition, we have the end of this illusion between the observer and thing observed, the one who is seeing himself as the experiencer of the experience.
Thus, you see, there is no duality, no separation between the observer and thing observed, between thought and the thinker, between suffering and the sufferer. It is in this duality that the problem lies, it is in this duality that conflict lies, it is in this duality that suffering, fear, problem lies. Are we together? To get closer to oneself is to recognize this illusion. This is possible when there is an approach to the Truth about Self-Awareness and Real Meditation in a practical way.
Meditation is the emptying of this psychological content of conditioned thought, of this psychological thought that sustains this pattern of duality. The end to this is Advaita, non-separation – this is the Indian expression for the Natural State of Being, Pure Intelligence, Pure Consciousness, without this movement of the “I,” this “me,” this ego, which is the observer separating itself, creating this illusion of separation between the thing observed and the observer, creating this illusion between thought and thinker.
So, here, on this channel, we are working together to eliminate this illusion, which is the illusion of this center, which is the “I,” the ego, the idea, the thinker, the experiencer. For this purpose, we have meetings here, online, on weekends. Through questions, answers and this encounter with the Silence of Meditation, we are working on this with you. You can find our WhatsApp link in the description of the video to take part in these meetings with us. These are meetings that take place on Saturdays and Sundays, where we are investigating this together.
We also have face-to-face meetings and retreats. If it makes sense, leave your “like” here, subscribe to the channel and put “Yes, it makes sense” in the comment. OK? And we'll see you. Thanks for the meeting and see you next time.
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