The Nature of Suffering

The gap

Reality is always happening exactly as it is. It has no opinion.

The mind, however, is an opinion machine. It constantly compares "What Is" to a fantasy of "What Should Be."

Suffering lives in the gap between these two.

"I should be richer."

"She should not have left."

"This should be easier."

The wider the gap, the greater the suffering.

Pain vs suffering

Pain is a biological signal. If you cut your finger, you feel pain. It is clean. It is information.

Suffering is the psychological drama you layer on top of the pain. "Why me? This is unfair. I am clumsy. My day is ruined."

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Suffering is the refusal to accept the pain. It is the act of arguing with reality.

The fuel of identity

The ego loves suffering. It wears its misery like a badge of honor.

"Look how much I have endured."

"My life is so hard."

Suffering gives the false self weight. It makes you the protagonist of a tragedy. Without your problems, who would you be? The mind clings to suffering because it is terrified of the silence that would remain if the drama ended.

The end of argument

To end suffering, you must lose the argument. You must surrender your demand that reality be different than it is.

When you accept the present moment completely, the friction vanishes. The pain may remain, but the suffering dissolves.

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