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Originally Posted by sunj  I've been thinking and reading about this. I've heard different meanings of "suffering" and the causes of it. The most common one is "suffering is when you do not like your present situation and you are wanting to change it".
WHT!? I don't get it. Then what's the point of suffering, why get into that state in the first place? This confuses the hell out of me every time I read it. Some masters say that you shouldn't try to change it and just accept it ("Acceptance" as it is called). How can you just accept it??? What does accepting really do? If it gets you out of it then isn't that going back to the definition of suffering, and in-turn keeping you in it?
These questions just go in an infinite loop. If you want to end suffering, but the act itself keeps you in it, then why the hell did you enter it in the first place? No one is born into suffering. No baby comes out of the womb already in a state of suffering, so it has to be a state that someone enters. And the fact that you can enter it means that you can exit it...
Someone please explain. |
We all suffer at times in our lives - whether it just a general dissatisfaction with life, or a more accute physical, mental, emotional or spiritual pain.
A lot of it we bring upon ourselves through having obssessive, worldly attachments to things, money, people, our bodies etc, thinking that we can achieve some lasting happiness there. But when we lose these things, or things don't go our way, we suffer.
The trick is not to become too attached and to learn how to transcend the pain.
When we realize that attachment is not the right path, we also suffer, by going through a spiritual purging process. An analogy might be looking up at the sun for too long - it hurts our eyes. The bright light of the spirit illuminates and reveals those dark, negative areas deep inside ourselves, and as we become conscious of them, and begin to release them, suffering ensues. Some patience and perseverance is then called for.