“I understand what causes pain and suffering, yet it is hard to know what to do about it!”
One thing we all know for certain – our pain and suffering, in whatever way they manifest, is a result of things not being the way we want them to be. It is a simple truth yet profound in its implications.
When we consider this truth, it becomes clear to us that if we change what we want, then we can change our state or experience of pain and suffering. But, on further reflection, we come to realize that it is not simply a matter of changing what we want, but changing what we want to that which is personally and universally life-giving.
For many of us, this realization constitutes a crisis of faith, for it threatens to undermine much of what we had thus far (mistakenly) believed to be life-giving! Among other things, it questions the choices we have made in the past as well as those we are about to make! Our beliefs and values are challenged as we begin to understand how they have influenced our choices. And we are faced with the discomforting realization that so many of our ‘choices’ are guided, not so much by conscious enlightenment or unconscious enlightenment (intuition), but rather by socially, culturally and religiously engendered ‘norms’ (or conscious or unconscious ignorance!)
The great spiritual teachers of this world have in one way or another assured us that happiness is ours when we live the universal truth and law of love. Happiness can never be ours as long as we try to impose our limited vision and its limiting laws upon ourselves and one another.
The Buddha who enunciated the four noble truths about suffering and the human condition, considered misconception, or wrong view, a major obstruction to the path of enlightenment (or freedom from suffering). And being the enlightened one, he recognized and counselled the following: each one us must make our personal journey toward enlightenment and only we ourselves can correct our own misconceptions and change our perceptions.
This journey will involve recognizing every instance of non-love. It will require choosing love every time, for, as the right view is expressed in the Bible: He who does not love, does not know god (our true nature) for god is love. Not an easy journey…but that too, after all, is a matter of perception!
Think of what you want, and realize that all beings want and need the same things.
They are just seeking it through different ways.
Lama Yeshe
Lucy Lopez mentors and facilitates retreats and workshops in Personal and Spiritual growth and Integrated Healing.
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