All Posts Tagged ‘grief’

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Living with Suffering

June 1, 2023
9 comments

Suffering is part of life. We all suffer. We suffer physically and we suffer psychologically. Physical suffering is unfortunate oftentimes, and often some of us get more than our fair share. When one suffers, one is not just suffering alone; the whole of humanity and life shares in that suffering; it is the suffering of life. Sometimes, we automatically run from suffering in a robotic, conditioned, thoughtless way. If one is intelligent, one can allow physical suffering to flower naturally somewhat (without just being totally negative about it). Physical suffering is often a signal… and we need not be too overwhelmed with some of these signals (as long as we are doing everything we can to live a healthy and responsible life).

Additionally, there is psychological suffering. The mind can suffer with grief, with fear, with sorrow, with depression, loneliness, and boredom. Habitually manifesting as grief and sorrow can, for instance, take its toll on the body; it can cause high blood pressure, strokes, and all kinds of things. One’s sorrow, one’s fears, one’s grief… are all not separate from what one actually is. One can, without effort, psychologically die to grief, fear, to sorrow (and such things). And merely dwelling in (and “as”) thoughts is a form of sorrow. Thoughts are merely virtual, symbolic images, and existing merely as virtual, symbolic images is intrinsically a form of suffering. And thoughts (and psychological images in time) are usually the sources of fear and anxiety. One can psychologically die to the endless chattering of thoughts; such a dying is inherently a blessing. Look at things directly and not just through a psychological screen of learned images and labels. It is the images and labels that take effort to manifest, which is not the case with direct perception and pure seeing. But we make effort into an endless habit and then claim that we can’t exist without it. Effort takes time; wise (pristine) perception is timeless. Compassion is instantaneous (and has an element of timelessness), by the way.

Coprolite — Fossilized Dinosaur Dung … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023
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Regarding Sorrow

July 28, 2022
5 comments

The dictionary describes sorrow as ‘the mental suffering caused by loss, disappointment, etc.; sadness, grief, or regret.’ Sorrow is a common phenomenon for human beings and some other animals as well. We suffer mentally, even when some of us are not directly aware of that suffering. A mind of fragmentary mechanical reactions, separation, and secondary symbolic thinking is often what sorrow is. The thinking process itself, though sometimes very necessary, is — whether we admit it or not — a vast (though limited) field of sorrow because it is what is symbolic, fragmentary, and residual (i.e., resulting from something that was previously present). Thinking (per se), being residually shadowlike, is not true bliss.

We often try to avoid sorrow by engaging in escapes… such as entertainment, traveling, reading, engaging in activities, and all kinds of things. But the psychological suffering is usually always there, waiting, confronting again and again around the corner. Escapes are essentially temporary. A very prudent action, in regard to this, is not what just involves another reaction, is not what involves just another standard escape. Reaction is mechanical (bound by thought/thinking) and may be part of the problem. Real action — that is not just another reaction — is holistic and direct. Perceiving suffering directly and holistically may entail seeing it beyond fragmentary, separative distance. Then the psychological suffering isn’t “there” at a distance for you to contend with… rather, you are that suffering; consciousness is not then separate from what suffering is. You used to do things about it to escape from it or evade it. But now — if wisdom is there — intelligence may see that one is what it is (not that it is separate from what one is); when one fully perceives that one is it, reacting to it does not manifest as it did before in the standard old ways. Wisdom is the flame that dissipates suffering and disorder. No separate reaction on your part is necessary. (Such wisdom will naturally help so-called others.)

Beyond Struggle … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2022