Why do we suffer? Because we continuously want something. Our mind creates continuously a need, a thing, person or some element of fancy and desire. Also because we expect life to be made only of “good” elements, people and events. In short: because we have a childlike attitude and expectations, otherwise how else can we believe that we can have only daylight, hoping that there would be no night, how do we expect to have only summer and no winter, how can there be beauty without ugliness and so on.
A mature enough person acknowledges the fact that the ocean has its ebbs and flows, and every coin has 2 sides, as such we will have to experience both sides of whatever. But my observation is that when we try to get only the good things, we are missing the hidden gems in the “bad” ones. When we lament and cry because some unfortunate event, we will be missing the “juice” of that event, which came to existence to show us some flaw in our beliefs, some weakness, some points where we can work and improve, and some darkness which can be acknowledged and transmuted into pure Light of the All.
So behind any “why”, there’s always the answer. The difference is in our opening to perceiving the highest level of truth that we can grasp. Truth is not linear neither static. It’s an ever-evolving perception about everything. Everything is true at its own particular level of vibration and in its own timeline. No matter how absurd some affirmation could be, there are people or elements to which that can apply and to which is “correct”. On the other hand, at a higher level, that past “truth” becomes obsolete, a lie of the past to which we may look back with scorn. Nonetheless, that was correct at its point.
A fast example: I was certain in the past that for a healthy life, one has to eat a diet abundant in meat, for proper protein. And, boy, I was so acute and rigid when someone would say otherwise (as with many other things 😂) Later on, I discovered that I could easily live without any meat and discovered that if indeed we are in need of protein, there are definitely vegetables that are providing us with the needed proteins without any downgrade in nourishment. I am not advocating for any type of diet, although for my particular case, I resonate and function better on a vegetarian diet. I just used this for the sake of exemplifying. So what I meant to prove, was the “justness” of my previous belief at that moment when I was certain that we can’t function properly without meat in our diet. Then the truth evolved and became: “vegan is the new thing!” 😁 and after I came back to incorporating eggs and at points dairy products (which I removed once again).
I am not sure if my diet evolved or not in the right direction, since I went back and forth experimenting and seeing how it works, once again proving that everything in this paradigm has its cyclicity. But what I can definitely tell about myself is that I became very fluid in my beliefs, and try not to have any beliefs too rigid so I won’t waste the opportunity of expanding my understanding to the next immediate level if the opportunity appears. Now, I am ready to question even the most “undeniable” of the truths, knowing that whatever we may even be ready to put our life in line for, that we might consider an indubitable truth,… at a higher level is no longer valid and might even look like a joke and abomination compared to the newly discovered truth.
That being said, why are we suffering? Because of expectations, because we don’t accept the decrease which is inevitable after long periods of growth. Ideally we should probably have present in the back of our heads that everything is cyclical, and everything has its ebbing and flowing, that whatever goes up will eventually go down and so on. When something comes, know for sure that will eventually go, and sadness is followed by joy and vice versa in an eternal dance of polarities.
The secret probably is not to get overly excited about some happy event, being fully aware of this eternal alternation of poles in this world we are experiencing, neither getting too sad or depressed, because of the change in polarity. Therefore I come back to a topic that I addressed in previous articles and say that we should look for the middle point, the point of rest of the pendulum or try to stay as close as possible to that 0 point, so the movement of the pendulum of polarities will not swing too much in neither side, because a very powerful swing towards the positive will eventually change into an equal movement to the opposite direction, as stated also in one of the 7 laws of hermetics.
So to conclude, probably the best way to protect ourselves from suffering is diminishing as much as possible the expectations of goodness and dreaming only about the bright side of life, instead embracing both polarities within and without, knowing that each has its own role in our eternal path back Home.
Inspired by and dedicated to Jivanmukti and Siddha Param-Para 