you are the cause of your own suffering

[roger]

This is imo an absolutely necessary understanding if one is to find healing.

 

As long as people think something other than themselves is the cause of their problems, there's no possibility of true healing.

 

YOU create your own experience; YOU choose either love or fear; YOU create either a happy or unhappy life.

 

If you blame something or someone outside of yourself, you'll forever see yourself as a victim and never find salvation.

[roger]

I just wanted to add something to this that I just thought of that I need to learn more deeply myself.

 

When it comes to creating your own reality, there's the absolute and the relative.

 

In the absolute sense, everything you experience is the will of your divine nature......from that point of view, the fact that you create your own experience is an absolute and includes the totality of your life.

 

A deeper part of you is in total control of your life.

 

In the relative, most people don't have much CONSCIOUS control over their lives, and our suffering really isn't our fault.

 

Until one gains the wisdom and power necessary to consciously manifest their experience, they will only have very limited capacity to do so.

[Marblehead]

Excellent thoughts.  And as has been said before, be honest with your self.

[roger]

Excellent thoughts.  And as has been said before, be honest with your self.

 

Thanks MH. That's exactly what I needed to hear.

 

If I'm HONEST with myself, I'll let go, I'll forgive, I'll do what I need to do for myself.

 

This has been a major problem for me in the past, and your words inspire me to solve the problem.

 

To thine own self be true!

[Bud Jetsun]

To thine own self be true!

Somethings are instantly their own best reward.

[Orion]

We live in a dream and this dream is capable of producing anything. I've studied astrology for years and it's fascinating to watch the trends, it's a super useful tool. At the ultimate level, there are no planets and nothing is really going on here. But on a relative level, in this dream, there's something called astrology and it's a tool that we can use for various things.

 

I see personal choices like that. In this dream, you have a will and that will can be used to have different effects on your life. Karma may even be part of the dream.

 

So, we do cause our own suffering, in a relative way, and you are just part of the divine doing itself.

 

It's useful to see things this way for the sake of non-attachment. At the same time, even with the yin method of living, you can't be too laissez-faire about it. Yes, the divine is orchestrating all this, but you're a part of the divine that has the power to choose, and if you abdicate that then you're choosing to be at the whims of the world. That may cause suffering.

[3bob]

parents are responsible for their kids up to a certain point... and to follow suit the gods are also responsible for their kids (or humans) up to a certain point... thus I'd say it's not so simple as saying you create all of your own suffering since the whole ball of wax is very big. 

[Marblehead]

Well, you want to talk about the gods again, it is said that god created man; god gave man free will, but also gave man the responsibility for all his thoughts, words and deeds.

 

So many forget about the responsibility part of this.

 

But yes, for many species parenting is a very important part of this responsibility thing.

 

If you produce the offspring you still have the responsibility for teaching that offspring the ways of the species so that it can eventually become an individual responsible for its own thoughts. words, and deeds.

[3bob]

well you want to talk about "free will" again ;-)...  I think that is a highly debatable term... granted there is an ultimate end game and choices that are made - but so much is driven with limited and relative choices made from limited and relative states which are not exactly "free".

[Marblehead]

well you want to talk about "free will" again ;-)...  I think that is a highly debatable term... granted there is an ultimate end game and choices that are made - but so much is driven with limited and relative choices made from limited and relative states which are not exactly "free".

 

Yeah, you know I enjoy talking about free will and choices.

 

But I will agree with you that different people have different limiters and we, none of us, never have total and complete free will.

 

However, in those areas of our life where we do have free will and choices we must take responsibility for our thoughts, words, and deeds as this is the only way we can be content with the decisions regarding our life that we have some control of.

[liminal_luke]

I dunno.  I think the ever-popular you-create-your-own-reality meme is of dubious utility.  Sure, it can be helpful to kick yourself in the butt when you´ve been stuck in victim space: if you´ve created the problem then you are empowered to do something about it -- blah, blah, blah.

 

But then someone gets cancer.  Did that person create her reality too?  Perhaps she did but it´s not always helpful or nice to say so.  Some people are born to parents who beat them or have sex with them when they´re three.  Some people find themselves in the middle of a collapsing bridge when the earthquake happens.  Oops.

 

Sometimes shit happens, and the mystery of it all is bigger and more unknowable than the you-create-your-own-reality brigade would have us believe.

 

Liminal 

Edited June 21, 2016 by liminal_luke

[Bud Jetsun]

I dunno. I think the ever-popular you-create-your-own-reality meme is of dubious utility. Sure, it can be helpful to kick yourself in the butt when you´ve been stuck in victim space: if you´ve created the problem then you are empowered to do something about it -- blah, blah, blah.

 

But then someone gets cancer. Did that person create her reality too? Perhaps she did but it´s not always helpful or nice to say so. Some people are born to parents who beat them or have sex with them when they´re three. Some people find themselves in the middle of a collapsing bridge when the earthquake happens. Oops.

 

Sometimes shit happens, and the mystery of it all is bigger and more unknowable than the you-create-your-own-reality brigade would have us believe.

 

Liminal

 

All of those things are circumstantial sources of some sensory phenomena.

 

With nothing more than a mindful choice, humans can burn alive enjoying Nirvana.

 

Even as cancer poisons your body or you fall to your death from bridge collapse, it requires your own choice to interpret the sensation fearfully and in doing so suffer it to whatever extent of your choosing. In compassion for yourself who deserves your Love and kindness more than any other being, it unbreakably remains equally possible to embrace the sensory phenomena with Love and appreciation for the life experience opportunity it's offering, even if it includes your dismemberment or whatever. I can tell you from experience it's possible gratefully enjoy feeling the asphalt grind flesh away and snap various bones while crashing motorcycles. It's possible to enjoy the sensations of getting up and getting back on your bike and finishing your ride, and possible to enjoy every moment of the healing process.

 

Humans have such a fear stigma over the singular divine entitlement (death) due to a lack of using this one moment to gather amazing fulfilling life experiences while the body is still living.

 

Unlimited Love,

-Bud

Edited June 21, 2016 by Bud Jetsun

[liminal_luke]

With nothing more than a mindful choice, humans can burn alive enjoying Nirvana.

 

 

Hi Bud,

 

When it comes to holding people accountable for embodying the highest vibrations of divine love, you, Bud Jetsun, do not fool around.  It´s an attitude I respect, and a position that needs saying.  So thank you for saying it.

 

Still, I think this kind of hardcore personal choice position isn´t always what people need to hear.  This might be the perfect message for some people with cancer, for instance, but for others it might come off as preachy and judgemental.  Especially if the person saying it doesn´t themselves come from this place in their own life.  Perhaps you do come from this place in your own life and can radiate the kind of unlimited love that makes it easy for people to take this in, I don´t know.  But lots of people don´t.  And when they say it, people don´t get to nirvana, they get annoyed.  

 

Just saying...

 

Liminal

[CelibacySeeker]

Not "you" but your mind which affects nervous system.

Edited June 22, 2016 by CelibacySeeker

[Bud Jetsun]

Every being is free to suffer anything to the limit if their ability to choose suffering.

 

Even reading my words is an equally available choice to suffer the remainder of your one moment.

 

Irregardless of what you may have recollection of experiencing or imaginations of what may yet to be experienced, the nature of reality remains in this one moment of Now alone.

 

It is only for this infinitesimal moment you choose to appreciate with gratitude and mindfully not deviate from this simple choice to unbreakably liberate oneself from self imposed suffering.

 

If you wish to instead continue to suffer for whatever reason, this choice also always equally remains available through choosing to greet and interpret this one moments sensory phenomena woth fear and ungratefulness.

 

Some were instructed to fear and self-torment everything they encounter and this is instantly it's own worst punishment. I assure you it's a far easier choice to greet every sensation with Love and appreciation and this instantly becomes it's own best reward.

 

This option is equally available for you to choose as a gift to yourself, no matter the nature of memories of previous events or imagined outcomes of future events one has experienced.

 

Every day you are free to make up a new reason to suffer this moment. Every day you are equally free to appreciate your one fleeting moment.

 

Forgive yourself Liminal my friend. Forgive all others for what may have been or could be. This servers the ties to the burdens between you and inner peace. Love yourself completely, Love the universe completely. Now with inner peace and a unburdened heart a being is ready to begin a spiritual practice.

 

Unlimited Love,

-Bud

Edited June 22, 2016 by Bud Jetsun

[CelibacySeeker]

Here we go, another snakes oil salesman with delusional ideas trying to put things on someone who can not do it .

 

"Every being is free to suffer anything to the limit if their ability to choose suffering. 

Even reading my words is an equally available choice to suffer the remainder of your one moment. "

 

 

Putting things like this people should be banned in instant. Poor spiritual new agey people who lost in their "spiritual" kool-aid who can not live and will not live in their own standards and ideas but still trying to impose those on others to grant themselves immunity for their ignorancje.

 

Worst kind, put some real taoist and Buddhist teachings in your life. do not play this candy-dandy thing with slogans. 

Edited June 22, 2016 by CelibacySeeker

[3bob]

to "march into hell for a heavenly cause", - yep that can have right dharma to it...yet it can also turn into a slippery slope paved with good intentions.  Being blissfully or lovingly detached in a dharmic way to all possible goings on is at the fully realized masters/saint level, a novice or intermediate should not take on the pretense of being at that level (although appreciate it for what it points to) and thus do as they can from their own level of understanding per their particular circumstances and try to up-level that as much as they can without it backfiring on them. 

Edited June 22, 2016 by 3bob

[Bud Jetsun]

It's good to see the rejection in some here.

 

A rejection sufficient to warrant posts back means the seeds of truth of the nature of reality of mind were effectively planted in fertile soil.

 

Liberation from suffering is possible for every being at this very moment.

 

Liberation does not arise from a lack of worldly inputs to suffer. Liberation can only arise from choosing in compassion to appreciate in genuine gratitude any and all manner of phenomena.

 

If this choice has the outward appearance of being impossibly difficult to make, recognize it only needs to be made for this one infinitesimal fleeting moment.

 

No one else can ever enjoy a moment of your life experience for you. Equally, no one can ever impose non-enjoyment without your direct consent.

 

The only difference between pain and pleasure is the choice in interpretation of some sensory phenomena.

 

Accepting mindful responsibility for ones own state of being is instantly it's own best reward.

 

Unlimited Love,

-Bud

Edited June 22, 2016 by Bud Jetsun

[Jim D.]

I had a mentor in the 80's that if I got into an accident, it was my fault I was there!

 

JD

[Marblehead]

I had a mentor in the 80's that if I got into an accident, it was my fault I was there!

 

JD

 

Everything is always your fault Jim.  Hehehe.

[3bob]

reality is Atman, not mind which is computer like with various programs

[3bob]

only the enlightened can choose to be in an accident, the rest of us come to such by a meeting or convergence of seemingly invisible forces (to us) that btw are not all carved in stone...

[Michael Sternbach]

Here we go, another snakes oil salesman with delusional ideas trying to put things on someone who can not do it .

 

"Every being is free to suffer anything to the limit if their ability to choose suffering. 

Even reading my words is an equally available choice to suffer the remainder of your one moment. "

 

 

Putting things like this people should be banned in instant. Poor spiritual new agey people who lost in their "spiritual" kool-aid who can not live and will not live in their own standards and ideas but still trying to impose those on others to grant themselves immunity for their ignorancje.

 

Worst kind, put some real taoist and Buddhist teachings in your life. do not play this candy-dandy thing with slogans. 

 

You are wrong. Bud Jetsun is living what he teaches to the fullest, as he as well as his partner are regularly engaging in high risk activities that would make most people here run for shelter.

 

And while this gave me a quantum of hope, I must caution you that if you relapse to your pattern of ad hominem attacks, there will indeed somebody be banned in an instant, and it won't be Bud...

[Jetsun]

The only part which has a free will to choose happiness or suffering is that which is free, so conditioning has no choice whether conditioning is positive or negative because it is what it is and has no choice to be different than it is. So if ones awareness is stuck in their negative conditioning they can't necessarily chose not to be because they are not in contact with that part which is free to chose differently. 

 

The irony being the part which is free isn't actually an individual "I" as the "I" is always conditioned, so we as separate individuals don't have a choice, rather only that which is already free has a choice, so really there is no free will to chose suffering or happiness when we perceive ourselves to exist as separate beings.

[Marblehead]

Well, I have spoke to this before in other threads so I might as well mention it here too.

 

For me, experiencing pain and suffering are two different concepts.

 

Experiencing pain is objective.  Breaking one's leg is very painful.  How painful?  To answer that would take us to the subjective.

 

Suffering is a mental attitude.  It is purely subjective.  It is a choice.  One chooses to suffer because of the pain they are experiencing.

 

Suffering is kinda' like the pity party.  Oh!  Poor me!!!