The other day, when I was in dark thoughts and stirring emotions, I wondered for the umpteenth time why we have this whole circus here on earth. ‘To learn, for soul development’, say the Happinez stories. But why is that necessary? And is that really true? Isn’t karma just a disguised social credit system? And what is the meaning of suffering? ‘Maybe there’s no point at all, everything is pointless.’ I thought, crying in my own misery. “But if suffering is pointless, I might as well stop,” said a little voice inside me. This thought, this insight, made me laugh inwardly. I felt some space again. Indeed, I didn’t have to suffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It made me realize that there is a difference between pain (the sensation we experience as pain) and suffering. Thoughts, feelings, events can be extremely painful but that is different from suffering from them, i.e. drowning in it and making stories about it in your head (‘why me, I’m pathetic, I’m having a very hard time, I can’t handle this’ etc.) This became clear to me during a severe migraine attack that I had shortly afterwards. I experienced tremendous physical pain, but I did not suffer from it. I could experience the pain as it was (physical sensations) but I was not a victim of the pain. Under the violence of pain and nausea, my mood was peaceful. And that is what makes the difference between pain and suffering: keeping the inner peace in the eye of a storm of painful sensations (physical and\/or psychological).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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