Mind-work of the Most Fallen # 8

OM

On Suffering

The most abundant thing in the world is suffering. People go around marketing this place as a beautiful spot (like in travelogues)--today or when the time comes(e.g. last judgement when this world will be transformed into paradise)--and exactly like in travelogues, it miserably falls short with our expectations. You only need to see a child being born, helplessly covered in goo and blood, struggling for his first breath of air--more like drowning in this new atmosphere--out of the comfortable water of his mother's womb, to realize this. We celebrate birth as if it's the happiest day for a human being, when in fact it is the opposite--it's actually the day he will start to suffer.

This may appear simple cynicism or that I am looking at the glass of water half-empty, but that's not the worse part of it. It's not even the cynicism or the negative perception about life in this world which is the matter here, it's the ignorance that we are suffering and by further twisting it as pleasure. So we throw off parties birthday after birthday as we "live" another year, which if you look through the facade of the festive spirit all that is there is death moving in (In Kurusawa's film Madadayao it's expressed as "Not yet! Not yet! Huraaah!"). Saintly persons stated that no one which is born will escape death, and the fools' reaction to this is "well then let's make the best of it and have fun". Carpe Diem is a phrase mentioned a lot whenever topics like these are brought up. Seize the day. And it is a sound advice. Live as if there is no tomorrow. It will now depend on how you live it. People live their lives via different manners. Some live to jump off planes; some to cruise the waves; some to be in the 100 club others in the 10 club, and eventually to be the 1 club; some live for their pets; some for their art and music; etcetera. All in the name of feeling good. I feel good having people worship me for my art, I feel good having people worship me for my body, so on and so forth.

But this feeling of "goodness" always seem to be just like chewing gum. The mind-blowing sweetness is only during the first chew. Or in smoking, the best flavor is always in the first drag. So you chew and you chew and you puff and puff, looking for that taste. But its fleeting. You can only grab it for a time, and after that its gone again. And it's a bummer, a hassle. Why can't there be an everlasting gum? Or an orgasm multiplied to the millionth level? And this is a sound question.

But even if this fleeting nature of material pleasure is the one that gives us suffering, we never seem to stop doing it again, entering the chain of pain, over and over. It's not sadomasochism, we are not attracted to the pain, it's the opposite, we want pleasure. Our bodies are meant to suffer: birth, old age, diseases, death, all of these are the consequence of having a material body. But because we are not our bodies, it's impossible for us to stop hankering for pleasure even if our bodies are already beat. Because as spirit we are naturally full of pleasure, intelligence and bliss. And from where we come from the conditions suffered by our bodies are absent. That's why all these pain is artificial to us; that's why we are torn.

Going back to the orgasm multiplied to infinity question, it's a sound inquiry for it is possible. In other scriptures, it is said that our world, the material world is a perverted reflection of the spiritual dimension. All the pleasure here is an approximation of the pleasure in that plane. And being former residents of a place where suffering is non-existent it is but natural for us to be wracked by what we are experiencing here.

I don't agree with embracing suffering. We can only go so far as verbalizing it, and that's it. We can understand it, like why am I suffering? Why is there suffering? And that again is a very sound question, it's the beginning of enlightenment. We don't belong here, we should only be here for a while...like in a hotel, you don't give a fuss about decorating your room in a hotel, you do not furnish it with permanent stuff. You will be leaving it after a few days. Suffering shouldn't be accepted as natural, although it is natural in this material world, for we are not natural here, we aren't supposed to be here, our natural home is in the spiritual realm where there is only bliss and pleasure. Scriptures say that we aren't supposed to be suffering here in the first place. But we are here, because we wanted to be "free" with our enjoyment, we want our own scene, we don't want to be part of somebody's entourage so we are here. You weren't born in this world because God liked you to be born, no, it's becuase you wanted to be god.

The suffering in the world is actually God's mercy to us fallen souls. God reminds us with each pain we suffer of our real eternal position, and that is to be in a loving relationship with God. The world is an illusion, God made it so, for us to fully "enjoy" our desire to lord over. But in the long run we will get only pain out of this desire to sever our selves from Krishna. Because a hand that wants to enjoy by himself when severed from the body is a dead hand.

Suffering is in this world, we cannot run away from it, we cannot change it, the only thing we could do is to rekindle this loving relationship with God, and avoid being reborn in this world.