We must comprehend what suffering is. Here, I want to discuss with you about the most complicated suffering for all of us. I want to deal with the issue of psychological suffering. After all, what is suffering?
Notice that suffering is something psychologically present in us because of this thinking and feeling. What is this thinking? What is this feeling? To whom does this occur? To whom does this happen? The thought within us, how does it work? What are thoughts? See, all of these are things we need to investigate, deepen, and understand. And here, when I refer to the word “understand,” it is not intellectually knowing how to explain because you intellectually understood the subject. It is to have a direct understanding through real contact about it. We need direct contact with the process of thinking and feeling to understand what thinking is and, naturally, what feeling is.
So, here we are investigating with you the issue of thought. Have you ever noticed that thought happens now, but it’s just a remembrance, a memory? But it’s a memory always accompanied by a sensation. Thought carries sensations with it. This sensation we call “to feel” or “feeling.” The fact is that thought is something present now, occurring as a response coming from the past, that is, from memory, from remembrance. You don't have any thought here and now without the past in this format of recalling memories. Then, thought is the past, recollections, memories. And when arriving, it carries a feeling along with it. Thought and feeling are companions; they are together.
When we say we are suffering, what we really say is that we are remembering. Understand this clearly, the importance of understanding this: when we say we are suffering, in fact, we are reliving memories, the past, again of memory, of recollection, of remembrance. What we call “suffering” is now just the thought-feeling presence. A story thought tells and feeling brings to the organism, this mechanism, this body-mind. This suffering is the presence of the “I,” this “me.” So, suffering is the presence of the one who suffers, and the one who suffers is the “I,” me. And this is nothing more than memory, remembrance, past, touching this structure, this body-mind, this mechanism. That is the sense of an “I” present in suffering, the sense of the ego.
Thus, when we talk about suffering, we need to talk about thinking. There is no suffering without thought. The presence of suffering presupposes the presence of thought and feeling. And thought-feeling is memory, remembrance, the past. It has given life to this entity we call “me,” “I,” the ego. To look at what we are here and now is to perceive the presence of that “me,” that “I,” that ego. And it is the one that is present when thoughts and feelings arise.
So, what is thought? Thought is memory. As you went through some experiences, some were unpleasant. At that moment when you were going through these experiences, it left a mark in the brain, a remembrance, a memory, and it became a saved recorded image. And at some point, later on, that image appears, that recollection, that memory, that recording happens again. It is always here and now that this memory, this image, past, appears and brings the psychological pain of thought-feeling. That is the condition for the “I,” for the suffering person.
So, the presence of suffering presupposes the presence of the one who suffers. We do not approach to look at it when it comes up. But here, I want to tell you that it’s possible to be free from the psychological suffering, that psychic suffering which is the suffering of the “I.” Once the “I” is understood, when there is an understanding of what the “I” is, we can eliminate it from our lives. When you exclude this “I” from “your” life, there is no longer “your” life. There is the present life, but it is no longer the life of the “I,” this “me,” this person as you see yourself.
So here, our work together is to go beyond that “I,” that ego, that sense of being present. It is possible for us to go beyond suffering – I refer to psychological, psychic suffering. Then, the weight of all the unhappiness present in these different forms of psychological suffering, all of that disappears with the disappearance of that “me,” that ego. What I'm saying to you is that this ego, this “me,” is a by-product of culture, society, and the world. We carry a psychological conditioning that cultivates this “I” identity, the ego-identity in us. We must investigate, delve into this and discard it from our lives.
We are here with you looking, perceiving together with you that the only truth present of this “I” is the truth of memory, of remembrance, of the recollection of frustration, of a pain, a hurt, a need, or lack. A pleasure experienced in the past that did not end, the frustration experienced in the past, which did not end, either. I go through an unpleasant experience, and it does not end, and ahead, a few days later, it presents itself again.
So, we are constantly dealing with the past, memory, and remembrance. There is always an illusory identity present in that experience, showing itself at that moment, assuming this reality of this body and mind. That is the identity of the “I,” the ego. Anxiety, depression, fear, guilt, the pain of loneliness, envy, jealousy, resentment, hurt, everything that represents the psychological unhappiness present here and now because of this “I,” this ego, this false identity... When we have an approach of looking at what arises without feeding this identity that is the “I,” in this experience that is a memory, a thought with the feeling... When we do not put the “I” – what is it like to place this “I” in this memory, in this past that is returning in the form of thought and feeling, what is it to put this “I"? It is to place an element that judges, condemns, criticizes, or believes and identifies with the thought-feeling.
Thought-feeling is something happening here and now. That is something from the past, and when it arises in this inattention, due to the lack of attention to what appears, which is this memory, thought, or feeling, you mistake yourself; there is an “I” present mistaking itself for this thought and feeling. It mistakes itself when it is the observer involved in what is being observed. It is an observer when it condemns, criticizes, rejects, and wants to do something about what it sees, which is thought and feeling.
So, we have the presence of the observer seeing thought and feeling, reacting to it, interacting, and identifying with it. When that occurs, when that happens, we have the presence of the sufferer, which is the presence of that “I.” Notice that we have a duality here: we have the experience, which is the thought-feeling, which is this memory, something from the past, and this element called “I,” the observer, the thinker. This “I,” this observer, this thinker, is not actually separate from this thought-feeling. It separates itself to do something with it. And when this separateness occurs between what is observed and this observer, this duality happens.
Do you get that? A sense of “I” is present when judgment, comparison, or rejection is present or when passive acceptance of a state of identification with the past is present. The sense of an “I” creates the space between what is seen and the one who sees. So, we have duality here: the “I,” who is the experiencer, the thinker, the observer, and that experience. If that is present, suffering is present because suffering is the affirmation of the “I.” When that “I” is there, suffering is present.
We can approach this only by becoming aware of the presence of memory, the past, thoughts, and feelings without giving an identity to it, without creating this separateness between what comes up and an “I” separating itself to do something. We put an identity, which is the ego present in it, exactly when we try to do something. When we try to do something, we separate the observer from the observed. In fact, there is no such thing as this separateness.
Then, what is present is the thought-feeling presence here and now, but that has no reality at this present moment. Unless there is this inattention. In this inattention, we have been caught for many years. In fact, this is the history of mankind. We are sustaining the identity of the “I,” a hurt, offended, sad, remorseful, guilty, self-loathing, or self-proud “I.”
That is the sense of the ego present in our lives: a story that thought brings, with an accompanying feeling, and because there is no such attention when it arises, this separateness occurs. That is called duality. Duality occurs.
That is straight from the Vedas when we deal with the issue of Advaita, non-duality. The word Advaita means there is only One, the one without the second. Follow what we put here for you: What you are in your Being is not what thought presents as being you here and now. What thought brings here and now is just memory, recollection, and the past. That is something registered in the brain. Memory, recollection, is something engraved in the brain. A moment that, in the past, did not end is now returning here. There is no sense of a present “I,” there is no sufferer, no ego, no “me” to deal with that suffering.
The way to approach this is: at this moment, we pay attention to what appears here and now. Without putting this sense of an “I” to fight against, combat, try to get rid of it, to do something against, against this remembrance, this memory, this thought, this feeling. Notice that this requires the presence of that attention: being aware of every movement of thought and feeling as it arises.
No thought or feeling in you comes from anywhere but the past. Even when you see a scene before your eyes, it brings back a memory. Note that our brain basically works with memory. It’s just memory, just remembrances! And these memories bring feelings. When you pay attention to those memories, to those feelings, it loses the element of that identity, which is the “I.” And when this loses that element that is that illusory identity, it vanishes. No thought is upheld without the thinker, no feeling is sustained without the one who feels.
Observe this, look at yourself, and bring attention to yourself, here and now, before a thought. When you pay attention and only observe, without reacting to that thought, what happens to it? It vanishes and disappears. It is just when you are inattentive that thought continues upholding itself. One thought actually triggers another, which triggers another and another.
So, notice what we put here for you: there is only the presence of thought, which is memory; there is no such thinker. Only in this inattention to thought arising here and now, which is memory, does the thinker appear. And when the illusion of that thinker arises, thoughts go on reproducing themselves. It is not the thinker producing thoughts but thoughts finding support in the illusion of an identity, which is thought itself, which we call the thinker.
So, this phenomenon, which is the phenomenon of thought, only continues within us, in this internal chatter, this production of states of unhappiness such as anxiety, depression, anguish, and fear, because we are inattentive to its movement. Put attention to thought, and you will find out that it doesn’t uphold itself. If I say to you: observe thoughts arising now. Wait for the next one; only wait. Try this; wait for the next thought. That state of attention, of alertness, is exactly the presence of this present moment. And at this present moment, there is no room, in this attention to this instant, for the movement of the past, which is the movement of thought.
So, when you observe a thought as it arises – only observe, do not react to it, do not say “yes,” do not say “no,” do not agree or disagree, do not judge, do not compare – at that instant the attention on the movement of thought is the basis of Self-awareness. At that moment the thought disappears. And, if there is this attention now to this instant, this moment, to what is here*and now, present, arising, if there is this attention, thought does not find space to sustain itself at this instant, this present, this moment. This Presence, this Consciousness, this attention is the end of thought and feeling.
Here, I invite you to become aware of the movement of the “I,” thought, thinking, and feeling. And that’s the end of psychological suffering because that’s the end of the past. Our work together here is to become aware of the Reality of Being-Consciousness, which is the Reality that you are here and now when there isn’t that element which is the “I”. And now we have just realized that this element called “I” is just a collection of memories, remembrances, and thoughts.
This is the subject we work on with you here, within this channel. The Revelation of the Truth of your Being, here and now. This, some people call the Awakening of Consciousness or Spiritual Enlightenment, the Only Reality present when the sense of “I” is absent. Here, on our channel, we have an extensive playlist showing you the beauty of this approach to the True Meditation in practice. True Meditation is present when there is this attention, the attention to what arises here and now. Along with this view of yourself, you have the Truth of Self-Awareness. Without Self-Awareness there is no True Meditation, and without that Mindfulness – that Full Attention right now, to this whole movement of thought-feeling, which is memory, this entire reaction of the past – without that, without that Mindfulness, there is no Self-Awareness; and without Self-Awareness we have no basis for an approach to the Beauty that Meditation reveals. Then, Real Meditation, in a practical way, requires the presence of Truth or the approach to Self-Awareness.
So, here on our channel we have two playlists dealing with this Truth of Self-Awareness and the True Meditation in practice. It represents the end of suffering, in that Realization of What You Are, which is the Realization of God. OK?
If this is something that makes sense to you – as I have always told people here at the end of our meetings – subscribe to the channel. I want to invite you: we have online and face-to-face meetings where we work with those who approach us. OK? If this is something that makes sense, see you soon. Thanks for the meeting.
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