Suffering
is definitely relative. For some people
life is a daily struggle to survive, for others it may be the failure to find
the ideal relationship, job or latté.
I’m not making fun here really.
No matter how well off we are we suffer.
It’s a good idea sometimes to look around and realize how well off we
are in comparison. Even better, of
course, to devote some of our resources to helping those who are less
fortunate. The truth, however, is that
suffering is universal.
When
things are going well we feel content and happy. Unfortunately life, existence, nature, or
whatever we call it, involves change.
The ancient Greek philosopher Hereclitus observed that, “the only
constant is change.” When we depend upon
outward circumstances for our sense of well-being we are always vulnerable to
devastation. Another word for this
dependence is attachment. Attachment is
at the heart of suffering. Deeper still,
however, is ignorance. Ignorance in this
sense doesn’t mean lack of education; it means that we have forgotten who we
truly are. We don’t know ourselves.
Samsara
means the continuous cycle of birth, decay, death and rebirth. It is a cycle that happens every lifetime,
but it also happens each day and every moment.
When we were born we entered into this life experience, into this particular
physical, familial, socio-economic, cultural and historical context. Although we are unaware of it, it has all
been preconditioned by our past karmas.
On a soul level we have chosen this life experience in order to develop
spiritually. Imagine writing a
screenplay full of drama, comedy, action, etc. then submitting it and
forgetting about it. Suddenly you are at
the theatre and watching the movie. You
laugh, cry, cringe and groan with each scene completely forgetting that you are
the author. Because it has been so well
produced, you become so involved with the main character that you even forget
you are actually in the audience.
The
true purpose of human life is to awaken to our true nature. As Thich Nhat Hahn says, “We are here to
awaken from our illusion of separateness.”
The ego-self belongs to the drama.
It is the character we have identified with. The ego-self is involved with duality. It loves this and hates that. Our lives are the tragic-comic dramas of our
egos. We have friends and enemies. We fall in and out of love with others,
experience success and failure, health and sickness, joy and sorrow. We fail realize that everyone and everything
is our Self in disguise. As we awaken
our lives change from drama to love story.
Ego tells us that there is a particular person with whom we will find
true love. Spirit reveals to us that we
are love itself.
There
is a wonderful verse from the Bhagavad Gita which gives us a glimpse of what
this universal Self-love might be like.
“Enlightened ones,” says Krishna, “look with an equal eye upon one who
is intelligent and humble, an uneducated janitor, a cow, elephant or dog.” A friend once commented that it seems like
the enlightened person is indistinguishable from an idiot. This is the perspective of the intellectual
ego. We have to go beyond the rational
intellect in order to know a deeper reality.
Our True Self is beyond mind and intellect. As we awaken in consciousness we begin to
recognize ourselves in all beings. This
is the birth of compassion, the birth of love.
It
is also the gateway to freedom, moksha.
Moksha, or nirvana, is the release from samsara. It is the recognition of the eternal being
behind the appearances of life. When we
are aware of our eternal beingness; when we are at rest in Atman, i.e. Self, we
have a higher perspective. We can
recognize that this life, this incarnation is temporary while we are
eternal. It doesn’t really matter what
kind of past you or I might have had.
Once we awaken to our authentic being we are liberated from that
narrative, from that dream. Attachment
will try to take us back there again, so we have to be on guard.
I
have found a simple way of understanding non-attachment and liberation in a
quote from Victor Frankl, MD, who said, "Between stimulus and response
there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our
response lies our growth and our freedom."
Consciousness, compassion, non-attachment and liberation might here be
considered as roughly synonymous.
Consciousness develops as we are able to enter that space between
stimulus and response; when we practice inner non-attachment. Compassion and liberation, or moksha, arise
naturally when we are able to this.
