Gommy has been reading up on and trying Yoga lately. Yoga is about the only exercise, other than swimming or walking, that Gommy can still manage to do. I almost added an lol here but decided it wasn't so funny after all.....now that does seem funny to Goms......so.....lol. The side effects of Yoga are peace and tranquility. Now who couldn't use a huge dose of that these days?
In reading up on Yoga, Gommy came across a very interesting concept. You can't go very far in the study of Yoga before you come upon the teachings of the Buddha. Even if you don't feel comfortable discussing or thinking about Eastern Philosophies....when you Americanize it.....it starts to explain quite a bit about what is going on with most people and their suffering. Gommy isn't saying we should idolize Buddha.....not at all.....but he was a very wise man and had much to offer in the way of insights into how our minds work. Studying Buddhas' teachings is not about learning beliefs from far away lands. It is looking at how the teachings may apply to our own lives. The Buddha said that there are 5 reasons for suffering. 1-Not knowing reality 2- Clinging to the unreal 3- Aversion to unpleasant things 4- Identifying with our imaginary self and 5- the fear of death.
Let's start with knowing what is real. We think that our reality is absolute. We do not fully know our true selves. This is also called ignorance. It is the inability to see things as they really are. This doesn't mean that we are necessarily being stubborn.... because it can be that we may have a limited ability of understanding something. For instance, we cannot see radio waves and before they were 'discovered'...we could not imagine anything coming through the atmosphere and delivering something as beautiful as a song or an orchestral piece through thin air.
The next reason for suffering is clinging to the unreal. We have an identity that we have clothed ourselves with. Externally, it can be the idea that we are poor.....or we are ugly....or on the internal side....we are a bad person.....or we are stingy or greedy. We become trapped in those identities and that causes suffering. If we feel we are poor....we cling to money and are afraid it will be taken from us. Jealousy also comes into play with this reason in that when we strive to become 'better' or 'richer' than others.....it causes suffering when we fail to do so.
The next 'affliction' for our suffering is our aversion or shunning of things that are unpleasant to us. If we find that we cannot escape things that are unpleasant to us, it causes suffering. In the same way that even thinking of unpleasant things or experiences can make us uneasy. We shrink away from anything that threatens our egos. Even when our children do something that embarrasses us, is a form of turning it inward as an assault on how we raised them and is a threat to our parenting ego-self. 'Their' behavior threatens who 'we' are and the need to protect ourselves from what we fear is part of 'us'. If we cannot attain a pleasurable goal or experience, we suffer. Even when we do attain a pleasurable goal, it wanes after a bit and we begin to search for another goal to make us happy again. And the 'prideful' cycle continues.
The fourth reason for suffering is when we identify with our imaginary self. We have heard so much about self-esteem in the last few generations. It has been recorded that even a student with a low IQ can perform much better than the student with a high IQ if they have received enough positive encouragement from their teachers. That self image is enough to turn a poor student into a great student. The problems come into focus when we believe bad things about our self image. When we end up believing the 'I can't' or the 'it's no use' tape we keep playing over and over in our heads.
The last reason for suffering is the fear of death. We are so afraid of dying that we worship youth. The cosmetic industry is a several billion dollar a year industry. Why? Because we need to look and stay young as a way of denying death. The real reason we fear death is that our ego desperately needs to stay alive.....even if it means running the informercial 'it' has made to make us believe whatever needs to be believed.
The hidden reality is that once we stop 'knowing what is real', as in the first reason for our suffering.....we just fall like a stack of dominoes. And after that, all of the other reasons for suffering fall in line automatically.
The biggest gift we can give ourselves is to be aware of that 'monkey talk' that our ego is constantly feeding us. Be aware that we are not...... how much money we have, or how pretty we are, or how smart we are. The real 'I Am' person must not be afraid and must accept that those ideas of who or what we are cannot harm us. And the opinions of other people cannot harm us either. Only then, can you give yourself permission to BE YOURSELF....without the illusion (the erroneous mental representation) of who you are. Your whole life can and will change when you accept yourself. And that's some pretty good peace and tranquility if you ask Gommy!
So, think about this a bit and see if you are unnecessarily causing yourself to suffer. And if you are.....STOP THAT.....Gommy says! There is a saying somewhere that says. "Worry is like interest paid in advance on a debt that never comes due." So, again.....stop that. It isn't doing you any good and the more you give yourself a break......the sooner you will stop fighting YOURSELF!!! You can do it.....Gommy is pulling for you. Hugs & Mush, Gommy
