Here the question is: how can we deal with human suffering? The suffering that affects everyone. What is it and how to deal with it? What is this thing called suffering? And how to deal with it?
Notice that the basis - the real basis that sustains this issue of human suffering - is psychic suffering, is emotional suffering. So, how can we approach this issue of suffering? We know that a toothache is the presence of pain. If this psychologically affects you, beyond the physical pain, then you have the presence of suffering. Suffering is what affects you psychologically, whereas pain is what wounds or affects you physically.
If you burn your finger or stub your toe and fall, and find out your foot is sprained - and later discover the foot has a sprain - that is the presence of pain. So, there is a difference between pain and suffering. When you're angry at someone, you are suffering. When you're worried, you are suffering. When fear is present, you are suffering.
When you're sad, you are suffering. So, there is a difference between suffering and pain. Suffering is what affects the person; suffering is what affects this "I," whereas pain is what affects the body. If you have physical pain and internally feel irritated about it, angry about feeling that way, or worried about the pain, then you have both the presence of pain and the presence of suffering. So, notice how simple this understanding of suffering is.
Suffering is what affects you psychologically. Pain is what affects you physically. The way thought represents the experience - in that moment, what we have present may be just the pain or the presence of suffering. Here together, we are investigating this question of the end of this psychic suffering, the end of this emotional suffering. That is part of human suffering.
Here, in these meetings, we are exploring liberation in this life. The psychological condition of the "I's" existence, of the person, is the condition of a prison. As human beings, we live in this suffering because of the presence of this psychological prison that thought has built for this person. What is the truth of this person? This person is a construction of thought.
A construction that has a form, a name, a story, an image. That is the person. The makeup of this person, the structure of this person, the foundation of this person is thought. It may sound strange to hear this, but you are nothing other than a thought. When you use the pronoun "I," exactly what are you referring to?
To an idea, to a mental image. That is this you. What is a mental image? What is an idea? It is the presence of thought.
When you are sad, it is a sad thought. Notice this here with us. When you are angry, what is that anger? It is a feeling, it is an emotion, it is a sensation in this thought, in this self-image. That image is thought, that anger is thought, that emotion is thought.
See how important it is that we investigate this here. If we want to break free from this psychological condition - and that's what we are telling you here. In life, it is indeed possible to live a life free from suffering, from psychic suffering, from emotional suffering - but for that, you must become aware of the truth about yourself. You need to realize that you are nothing other than a thought. A thought that gets hurt, that gets sad, that gets upset, that becomes furious, taken over by anger - a thought in emotion, a thought in feeling.
This is the "I." Breaking free from this thought is breaking free from this image, is breaking free from this anger, from this emotional pain, from this psychic suffering. That is the beauty of an encounter with reality. An encounter with reality is the end of the illusion - the illusion of this self-image. So, let's touch on this now with you. Since the truth is that thought is the element behind all of this.
When you are angry, a thought is the element behind the anger; when afraid - it's thought; when sad - it's thought; when worried - it's thought. It is always thought as the element. Since thought is this you, this "I," and it is behind all of this - here the question is: what is thought? Here the question is: how to deal with this thing? How to deal with thought?
First, before anything else, let's understand something here. Once again, thought separates itself when it asks the question: how to deal with thought? The idea behind this question is of an element capable of dealing with thought. But look - the thinker himself is thought. We have a mistaken view of life because we have a false, completely illusory view of ourselves.
We see life as something happening, separate from what we are, because we see ourselves as someone present and life as something apart, separate. There is no such separation between life as it happens and you as you appear. By seeing ourselves as separate from life, as someone present - that someone is the one who, for example, is thinking, is feeling, is acting, is speaking. Here, speaking is life happening, thinking is life happening, feeling is life happening. It's when we have exactly that separation - notice - that we have the problem of suffering.
Exactly because we want to deal with it, do something against it, we create a separation. I don't know if this is a bit confusing here - for someone here for the first time on the channel, hearing this talk. You see yourself as someone present. But look - that's just a thought you have. What we have present is life as it is happening.
But you see yourself as someone who likes what's happening or doesn't like what's happening. Note that this is just a thought about how life should be, or how it could be. So, when you ask how to deal with thought or how to deal with thoughts, you see yourself as someone who is thinking and who can deal with thoughts. But who is it that is thinking? Is there such a thing as a separation?
The theory we have - which is just a belief - is that the thinker comes before the thought. First comes the thinker, and then he has thoughts. Look at yourself and tell me. Is that true? Is it true that you are first here and then produce thoughts of worry for yourself?
Are you the one who produces those thoughts of worry - or do they appear? Is it true that you are here and you produce sad thoughts in order to become sad? Are you the one doing that? Or are those sad thoughts that arise, and then you become aware that you are sad? If you were really the thinker of thoughts, would you manufacture for yourself thoughts of anxiety, of worry, of sadness?
Have you ever noticed that when you're afraid, it's thoughts that brought that fear? You're here, perfectly fine, and suddenly you're afraid something might happen to you. Is it true that you were here, then thought about it and made it appear - or did it appear and fear arose? Do you see? The great truth is that there is no thinker to think.
What we have present is thought arising. After the thought appears, then the thinker appears. First comes the thought of sadness, and then you find yourself sad. That's exactly how it happens. First comes the thought of worry, and then you find yourself distressed about being worried.
That's the order. First arises the thought that is the cause of fear, then you find yourself afraid. Notice that this is exactly how it happens. There is no such thing as someone thinking - there is only thought appearing. So we need to have a real approach to life in order to understand the end of suffering.
But to understand the end of suffering requires understanding the end of thought, because it is thought that is the cause, the reason, the truth behind psychic suffering, behind emotional suffering, behind this worry, anxiety, fear, or sadness. Notice that we go through much of life without realizing how we function. So, this kind of question - this type of question, how to deal with thoughts - presupposes an illusory base, a mistaken base, the belief that there is someone to deal with thoughts. There is no such thing as a separation between the thought and the thinker. When you come across a flower, there isn't "you" looking at the flower - there is only the seeing.
You only appear when an idea shows up. When, for example, you say: this flower is very beautiful, it would be so nice to have flowers like this in the garden at home. Notice - it's only in that moment that "you" appear, when you separate from the seeing, becoming the observer. When you're in front of a scene, what is present is the scene - "you" appear when you find it beautiful or ugly, when you like it or don't like it. Notice how subtle this movement is of the thinker, of the observer, of the experiencer of the experience.
It is the very movement of thought separating itself that creates this experiencer, that creates this observer, that creates this thinker. There is great beauty in this approach of studying ourselves. That's because through Self-awareness we realize there is no such element present as the "I." Here, the word, the expression "Self-awareness," is not about someone knowing themselves to become a better person. Here, it's about the awareness that this element called the "I" is merely a construction of thought in the face of experience.
Discovering the truth about yourself is becoming aware that this "I," this "me," this person, is an idea - it is a construction of thought. In this way, we completely dissolve this separation. And when that separation is dissolved, that element that could suffer dissolves. So, this great contact with life as it happens, without that element - thought - separating from the experience, that is the end of suffering. Suffering ends because that element that separates to clash with the moment, to clash with the experience, is no longer present.
When someone compliments you, you feel pleasure. When someone criticizes you, you get upset, or annoyed, or angry. That happens because, at the moment of the experience - in that instant, in that exact moment - this sense of self-image, this "I," notice it's just a thought, arises. When this self-image is flattered, this thought, which is the self-image, which is you, feels happy. When this self-image is criticized, you, who are that self-image, who are that thought, feel angry, feel annoyed, feel upset. So, the element present that sustains suffering is the same element that sustains pleasure.
Notice how important it is that we understand this here. In life, we are always in pursuit of pleasure - that is, of something that can flatter, soothe, pamper, bring satisfaction to this self-image. And we live constantly trying to defend ourselves from pain - from anything that might produce disturbance, offense, disorder, rejection toward this self-image. That is the presence of suffering. So we are constantly, in life, upholding the idea, the thought, the image, this mental picture of who we are, of who we cultivate to be, wish to be, hope to be.
That is the self-image. As long as that is present, we will always be experiencing pleasure and pain from a psychological standpoint. That is basically what sustains suffering. That is part of human suffering, that is part of psychic suffering, that is part of emotional suffering. Here, together, we are discovering how to break free from this self-image that lives in this psychological dependency on praise and rejection.
That when it is rejected, feels sad, angry, upset - that when it is praised, congratulated, feels happy, pleased, content. The end of this psychological condition is the end of that movement, which is the movement of thought, which is exactly this movement of separation. It is when that separation exists that suffering is present. Next time someone compliments you, just listen - give your full attention to hearing the compliment. Notice, we are dealing with something here that's not so simple, because throughout our lives this inner movement of thought in us has always defended its continuity through the self-image.
This belief that we exist as someone, as a person, is the self-image itself. This self-image loves to be praised and hates to be criticized. That is the addictive model of thought present in each of us. So, thought separates, creates this self-image, and sustains this self-image - wanting to be loved and trying to protect itself from being hated. So, the next time someone compliments you, pay attention in that moment to yourself and observe this reaction when it arises.
The first inclination of the "I," of the ego, of that past in you, is to receive that compliment and puff up like a balloon. But if you give full attention to that hearing without inserting this element that comes from the past - which is this "me," this "I," this self-image - if only the hearing remains, and that hearing requires free listening, and that hearing requires the presence of a new way of approaching the experience - the presence of that attention to that instant, that attention of that hearing - eliminates that "I," eliminates that past. Then only the compliment remains, but it doesn't touch you, because you are not present. As that "I," that "me," that person, that self-image - bringing attention to that moment - that is the end of the "I," that is the end of that self-image, that is the end of that sense of the "I," it is the end of the ego's sense for pleasure, for personal fulfillment. Do the same when faced with criticism, with insult.
Just listen. Give your full energy of attention to that hearing but do not place yourself as a person in the experience. Do not bring from the past this self-image, and observe what happens. Then neither the flattery makes you feel special, nor the insult makes you someone sad, angry, or upset. That is the end of that self-image.
That is the end of this quality of life centered in the "I," centered in the ego. That requires the presence of this attention upon your reactions. That is basic in this view of Self-awareness - for the end of this continuity of the "I," for the end of this continuity of the ego. Contact with life in this instant, free from this sense of the "I," is contact with freedom, with non-dependence on thought and, naturally, on emotions and feelings. Then something is revealed beyond the ego, beyond the "I," beyond this thought, beyond this flattery or this insult.
The encounter with the reality of your Self is the realization of truth, of happiness, of this absence of the "I." That is the end of suffering. That is the end of this old condition of human suffering, of psychic suffering, of emotional suffering. So, when we approach meditation, it is only possible through Self-awareness, which requires the presence of this attention. Then, the reality of your Self is revealed, the reality of God is revealed.
That is what we are working on here with you in these meetings. On Saturdays and Sundays we have online meetings here on the weekends. In the video description, you'll find our WhatsApp link to join these online weekend meetings. In addition to these meetings, we also have in-person gatherings and retreats. If this is something that makes any sense to you, here's your invitation - go ahead and leave your like, subscribe to the channel, and write in the comments: yes, this makes sense.
Ok? And we'll see each other. Thanks for the meeting, and until next time.
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