Find inner freedom and ease suffering by accepting life’s inherent challenges, understanding the transient nature of existence, and recognizing the illusion of the self.
Have you ever found yourself caught in an endless cycle of stress and frustration, despite your best efforts to maintain a positive outlook? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the demands of daily life—balancing work, family, and personal needs can leave little room for true peace and contentment. We might wonder if there’s a way to break free from this persistent struggle and find genuine relief from suffering.
The journey to liberation begins with a profound shift in perspective. By embracing three fundamental realizations about life—accepting that suffering is inevitable, understanding the transient nature of all things, and recognizing the illusion of the self—we can transform our relationship with pain and discover a path to lasting joy and freedom. These insights are not about adopting a pessimistic worldview but rather about seeing life with clear eyes and an open heart, ultimately leading to a more fulfilling and serene existence.
1: Life is suffering.
Yes, that seems to be a rather bleak view of life. We might protest, “But this is not positive thinking! I do not want to live according to such a negative view of life!” If we are familiar with the Law of Attraction, we might even think that this will only attract more and more suffering to us. If this statement were just a negative view of life, we would be right to react against it as undesirable. But it is not about worldviews or attitudes. Rather, it is just a neutral, realistic statement about our situation here during our time on earth.
The goal here is to accept that this is our lot in life. All living things suffer, and there is no getting around that fact. If we have not accepted the inevitability of suffering, then it means we are still wrestling against it, trying futilely to get rid of it from our lives. This in turn only creates greater suffering. If we can accept the fact of suffering, we will make great strides toward lessening the effects of suffering in our lives.
2: Everything is transient.
Just like the previous realization about suffering, this statement is a simple statement of fact about the nature of life and our existence in the universe. Everything in the cosmos has a beginning, before which it did not exist, and everything has an ending, after which it will not exist. This is true even of galaxies and suns, whose lifespans are billions of years long. For humans, our lives are much more fleeting. Our whole lives between birth and death, and even the entire existence of humanity, are like a blink of an eye compared to the age of this universe. Yet, we cling to things as though our existence will go on and on. We defend our power, our money, our self-concept as though it is real and everlasting. Realizing the transience of existence can help us drop whatever it is that stands between us and true inner freedom.
3: There is no self.
When we are born, we come into this world without a sense of being separate from the rest of the world. At that age, there is no “me” or “you” yet, and there is no “self” and “other.” But as we grow, we gain a sense that separations of this kind are real and that we are each individuals who are distinct from other individuals. This is what gives rise to the ego, the sense of self that we all naturally protect and defend. This is entirely normal, but we may also be aware of all the suffering and destruction that egos cause in the world.
Awakening to the third realization is the key to overcoming ego and the suffering its defense causes. Self, in fact, is just a temporary illusion that we can learn to overcome. But that is not easy. It’s a kind of dying, really. But on the other side of the death of our attachment to who we think we are, we discover the freedom to change and adapt—the ability to be whatever we want and need to be.
There may be some things in these concepts that make us feel a bit uneasy, maybe even a little frightened. However, if we contemplate these principles, and we actively and honestly seek to make them real in our lives, we will exponentially increase our experience of joy and freedom.
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