ConfusedByLife
05-06-11, 11:42
During a recent bout of depressive thinking and anxiety I decided to sit down and try and think this out rationally. I wrote down the following points and have expanded on them. It has helped me get my mind back on the right track and as it worked for me I hope it will be of some benefit to other’s feeling similar feelings and thinking similar thoughts
Firstly we have to go back to the beginning – what is suffering? Being born a man (or woman) is suffering because being born means we have to grow old, we have to become sick, we have to die, we have to experience things we don’t like and we have to continuously struggle to obtain, maintain and defend things that we like, from others. We may like it to be otherwise but these are the facts of being born a man. Now, there are these facts of life which we cannot avoid but the truth to escape lies not in what happens to us (which we cannot control), but in our attitude and reaction towards them, that is where we hold control. When we feel depressed or overwhelmed the world appears to us in a very specific way. It appears cruel, unfair, uncertain, scary, meaningless. It is certain that dwelling on depressing thoughts such as these however does not help us or make us feel any better, it simply entwines us in a descending vicious circle of life denying negativity.
So how do we begin to escape from this tangle of negative views? First we have to realise that the mind is an instrument, a computer. Your mind is not inherently negative or positive. It receives information from the 6 senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch and mental formations) and composes these electrical signals into an image of reality. Now this image cannot be true, as each person’s perception of reality will disagree with the next person’s (I will say cheese is delicious whilst someone else will argue the same cheese is repulsive) The point is that reality is all a state of mind, it has no inherent truth, just a consciousness (your consciousness) experiencing that self created reality. To escape depressive, self created reality is not easy. We have created habitual channels of thoughts in our minds because we have thought the same thoughts over and over again and like water (energy) looking for the easiest way down the mountain our thought energy flows into this channel out of habit. We have to rouse the energy (which is always there regardless of the illusion which depression gives) to challenge this incorrect assumption that because you believe you are a certain way (because that is the way it appears it has always been) that it is true and a correct grasp of reality. This is not the case. As I said before the mind is like a computer, it is not who we are, and it is not inherently good or bad, depressed or happy, these are just emotions and thoughts which come into the calm mind and disturb it, and we incorrectly grasp that this is who we are. What we now must realise is that we can use our minds like an instrument to, instead of abiding in a horrible hell type reality that we have created in our minds, to choose to (and this comes from effort & practice) dwell in a mind created reality which has habitual thoughts of calmness, contentment, joy, freedom from worry, patience, generosity etc. The point I am making is that it is our attachment to the view that this negative set of thoughts and feelings is who we are, and who we always will be. It is not true. It is so not true. No more true than everything will be rosy and great for ever. But, we can learn to deal with this when we let go of that view of who we think we are and concentrate on the view of who we want to become and how to get there.
Our mind is an instrument, for good or evil, for creating heavens or hells. We must now focus on finding a teacher and the teachings who will give us guidance to how to play this instrument, to help us make beautiful melodies with it, rather than the hideous noise of negativity which seems to play endlessly in most of our minds each day. The alternative is to waste a precious gift of life energy, your life that can be so beneficial to yourself and others, because humans can create wonderful things. Which teacher you choose is up to yourself, but this is an urgent decision. Our lives are short and fleeting and if we do not rouse the effort to change we soon become prey to the same habitual thoughts dragging us back into negativity and depression. There is so much stress and negativity which is put out there daily from the media and other people, sometimes it seems people actually get some perverse pleasure from stories of failure and disaster so it is not easy to detach yourself from it. My personal choice of teachings are Buddhist teachings and this has given me great peace over recent years, but there may be others and whatever gives you a sense of peace and hope will have some degree of core truth in it. Whatever you do, just don’t beat yourself up or believe you are your thoughts and feelings because you are much more than that, and you can change your perception of the world. Turn it into a heaven rather than a hell. If you have read this far I hope this rambling has been some kind of comfort and hope. Best wishes. Simon :)
Firstly we have to go back to the beginning – what is suffering? Being born a man (or woman) is suffering because being born means we have to grow old, we have to become sick, we have to die, we have to experience things we don’t like and we have to continuously struggle to obtain, maintain and defend things that we like, from others. We may like it to be otherwise but these are the facts of being born a man. Now, there are these facts of life which we cannot avoid but the truth to escape lies not in what happens to us (which we cannot control), but in our attitude and reaction towards them, that is where we hold control. When we feel depressed or overwhelmed the world appears to us in a very specific way. It appears cruel, unfair, uncertain, scary, meaningless. It is certain that dwelling on depressing thoughts such as these however does not help us or make us feel any better, it simply entwines us in a descending vicious circle of life denying negativity.
So how do we begin to escape from this tangle of negative views? First we have to realise that the mind is an instrument, a computer. Your mind is not inherently negative or positive. It receives information from the 6 senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch and mental formations) and composes these electrical signals into an image of reality. Now this image cannot be true, as each person’s perception of reality will disagree with the next person’s (I will say cheese is delicious whilst someone else will argue the same cheese is repulsive) The point is that reality is all a state of mind, it has no inherent truth, just a consciousness (your consciousness) experiencing that self created reality. To escape depressive, self created reality is not easy. We have created habitual channels of thoughts in our minds because we have thought the same thoughts over and over again and like water (energy) looking for the easiest way down the mountain our thought energy flows into this channel out of habit. We have to rouse the energy (which is always there regardless of the illusion which depression gives) to challenge this incorrect assumption that because you believe you are a certain way (because that is the way it appears it has always been) that it is true and a correct grasp of reality. This is not the case. As I said before the mind is like a computer, it is not who we are, and it is not inherently good or bad, depressed or happy, these are just emotions and thoughts which come into the calm mind and disturb it, and we incorrectly grasp that this is who we are. What we now must realise is that we can use our minds like an instrument to, instead of abiding in a horrible hell type reality that we have created in our minds, to choose to (and this comes from effort & practice) dwell in a mind created reality which has habitual thoughts of calmness, contentment, joy, freedom from worry, patience, generosity etc. The point I am making is that it is our attachment to the view that this negative set of thoughts and feelings is who we are, and who we always will be. It is not true. It is so not true. No more true than everything will be rosy and great for ever. But, we can learn to deal with this when we let go of that view of who we think we are and concentrate on the view of who we want to become and how to get there.
Our mind is an instrument, for good or evil, for creating heavens or hells. We must now focus on finding a teacher and the teachings who will give us guidance to how to play this instrument, to help us make beautiful melodies with it, rather than the hideous noise of negativity which seems to play endlessly in most of our minds each day. The alternative is to waste a precious gift of life energy, your life that can be so beneficial to yourself and others, because humans can create wonderful things. Which teacher you choose is up to yourself, but this is an urgent decision. Our lives are short and fleeting and if we do not rouse the effort to change we soon become prey to the same habitual thoughts dragging us back into negativity and depression. There is so much stress and negativity which is put out there daily from the media and other people, sometimes it seems people actually get some perverse pleasure from stories of failure and disaster so it is not easy to detach yourself from it. My personal choice of teachings are Buddhist teachings and this has given me great peace over recent years, but there may be others and whatever gives you a sense of peace and hope will have some degree of core truth in it. Whatever you do, just don’t beat yourself up or believe you are your thoughts and feelings because you are much more than that, and you can change your perception of the world. Turn it into a heaven rather than a hell. If you have read this far I hope this rambling has been some kind of comfort and hope. Best wishes. Simon :)