Oracle of Consciousness
#156 - Dealing With
Pain and Suffering
There are two main ways to deal with pain and suffering and only one way works.
The most common and ineffective way, is to avoid it.
That avoidance goes by many cloaks.
Deny it. Nothing to see here, move on!
Try to stomp on and suppress it.
Attempt by any means to make it go away.
Resist it like crazy.
Throughly oppose it as the enemy.
Run away and hide, oh good luck with that one!
Believe me when I tell you, I have tried them all with no success!
Not one iota!
It is like having our freedom curtailed and living chained within an inner prison of our own making!
Clearly this doesn't work!
Fighting the Demons!
Pain and Trauma
Comfort
Addiction
Pain and Trauma
These two come in many shapes, sizes and forms, these are just a few:
Domestic violence
Serious loss of family member or friend
Sexual abuse in any form
Physical, mental or emotional abuse or injury
Denial of civil rights and freedom
Attempted self-harm or suicide
Financial loss or bankruptancy
Witness to violence or death
Comfort
To nullify some of this pain and discomfort that we're experiencing, often we dive into something that will give us a modicum of temporary comfort.
It can be alcohol, easily obtained
Recreational (and) illegal drugs
Work, used as an escape
Sex, as opposed to genuine love making
Binge watching Netflix, talent shows, world news, horror movies
Twitter, constantly checking responses
Facebook, how many friends and likes
Tik Tok, or other addictive social media outlets
Anything that will give us a smattering of solace and it appears that it is working, albeit temporarily.
Clearly, it's very, very temporary and like all drugs, in order to get the same effect, we need to keep taking more and more of it.
Now we've developed a compulsive addictive personality and of course, the pain and suffering remains.
The only clear and effective way of dealing with this, is to dive into it.
When we're feeling our pain, the sadness, sorrow, discomfort, 'broken hearted', whatever we're suffering, remember that it's both sides of the same one coin, happiness and sadness, pain and freedom.
So we dive into this feeling of uncomfortableness, going deeper and deeper, asking the questions,
"What is it that I need to learn from this?"
"What is it I am I avoiding?"
"What is the root cause of this?"
Keep asking the question. Its energy just like everything else and it contains the answer.
Just as the yin-yang symbol has that dot of black in the white section, and the dot of white in the black section.
Keep going through this darkness, shadow, pain, and suffering. Keep diving deeper in there.
And all of a sudden, you'll get that ah-ha moment, that epiphany, a moment of light and clarity, which is awaiting your call.
Now we've resolved it.
Now it disappears.
We are now free from this.
We are back in the white section again, where there is a little dot of black, just waiting for the right trigger!
It almost appears like an endless game, except we get very, very good at resolving the source of our pain and trauma, along with the associated story we have been carrying around with us, which holds it all in place!
And one day, our aptitude and ability to deal with this pain and suffering, becomes so much more masterful.
That consciousness just arises and is present in every moment.
This is your journey.
This is Joseph Campbell's 'The Hero's Journey' from the head to the heart.
Rest assured, you are not alone on this path.
"No one saves us but ourselves.
No one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path."
Buddha