Your Self is still in peace, even though your mind is in conflict.
ACIM-T-3:VII:5:8
I am back on the topic of uncertainty as the root of suffering. I have to stress, first of all, that we know the difference between pain and suffering. Pain , in terms of the challenges we face as we move around in the physical world, is unavoidable. Suffering, in terms of how we react to those things, is avoidable. The mind is where suffering begins and where it can end ( if we learn to see beyond its frantic tendencies).
So in yesterday's entry I wrote about how uncertainty is the chief cause of fear and fear is suffering...it is what the mind tends to do with pain. It creates False Evidence Appearing Real. It isn't real as the lessons of ACIM have proved to date...we just believe it is. All suffering comes from things that don't exist. (Deepak Chopra).
In a presentation done with Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra explains our root of suffering by using a new spin on the yoga Kleshas. His explanation of ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion and fear make perfect sense to me when I attempt to understand uncertainty in suffering. They echo what I have been writing about and what I have been learning in ACIM.
Why we suffer
1. We Do Not Know Who We Are
We have no idea who we are. All your difficulties stem from the fact that you do not recognize yourself...(ACIM:3:III:2:1)
We think we are what we have been taught, think and led to believe we are. We are confusing Self with a socially induced hallucination that does not exist. (Chopra). We are mixing up ego with who we are. The ego is the wrong-minded attempt to perceive yourself as you wish to be, rather than as you are. (ACIM-T-3:IV:2:3) .
Tolle explains that who we really are is often overlooked because we are hypnotized by the constant movement of form which includes bodies, objects, thoughts, emotions and the busy world around us. We too often do not notice the still, timeless spaciousness in the background of this movement...that is who we are.
We are not the concepts, ideas, images, roles, stories and thought streams we have created to define who we are. This idea of self is always uneasy and uncertain looking for more things to identify with. It can never be satisfied with pretending. This leads to suffering.
2. Craving permanence in a world that is impermanent.
We seek safety and balance behind walls we create because the uncertainty of the world scares us. We want something to cling to and look to the "solid" things around us not recognizing that they too are constantly changing or moving in some atomic way we cannot see. We suffer because we will never find permanence in the impermanent and all things of the physical world are impermanent. The false walls we build and believe in make us feel separated and alone...thus leading to more craving for stability. We will never find the stability we long for in a world that is in constant flux, constant change.
3. Fear of the impermanent.
When we recognize the flux and changing nature of life we fear. We fear that the things we are able to attain will be taken from us, they will be lost or they will die...so we end up clinging and forming attachments to those things (including our special relationships) our mind tells us to "prefer". We cling because we fear loss and this leads to suffering.
Fear is a symptom of your own deep sense of loss. (ACIM-T-12:1:9:1)
4. Identify with self image instead of the Self.
A concept of the self is made by you. It bears no likeness to yourself at all.(ACIM-T-31:V:2:1-2)
We make choices about what we want and what we don't want; what defines us and what doesn't. We push away the things our "little me's" tell us are bad for us and cling to the things that help us to build this identity of self....the perfect job, home, person on our arm etc. It is all image we build, mental construct of self we create...not who we are. This will never sustain us or prevent us from suffering. Until we know who we truly are beyond this feeble constructed version of self, we suffer
5. We fear death
We fear death in all its forms, not just of the body. We fear death of ego...this little self we have identified with for so long. We wonder what we will be without it. We fear death of an image, a role, an idea that we have identified with. We fear death of other recognition of this self image we created. If they no longer see or approve of this image who will we be? And we fear death of the body. Who will we be when the body is left behind?
The fear of death will go as its appeal is yielded to love's real attraction. (ACIM-T-19: IV:C:9:1)
All of this causes suffering but all of this is unnecessary as we will discover as we progress through the teachings.
ACIM
Eckhart Tolle & Deepak Chopra (2013) Present Moment Reminders. Eckhart Tolle TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNFHVWdqr94
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