How To Remove Pain And Find Happiness, Part 2

Continuing on from Part 1 of this article, the removal of pain brings pleasure and happiness. When you can see that mental pain is 100% in your mind due to your resistance of the state of things as they are, you cease to believe the illusion. At that moment, pain is gone and pleasure, or rather contentment, presides.

Pain is felt when you believe a situation is inharmonious to the way it should be. The question is "How should things be." Do you feel you are able to determine how things should be or how a person should act? That is the illusion which causes pain, your opinion of how things should be is your illusion, not reality.

What an ego we have. When you bring a little humility into your life by simply looking at the stars on a clear night and thinking about what you are in relation to all that is, you must begin to develop the humility to put your opinions into perspective. Think about the creation of the stars, then think who you learnt from and the validity of that person who taught you compared to what created the Universe. A child learning from a child. This may make a parent feel uncomfortable, but if they get angry at this, then it should be easy to see you are dealing with ego rather than wisdom. What do you want to impart to your child?

Put things into perspective and realize your opinions are from a very tiny point of view, one that is not omnipotent. If you resist things as they are, you will feel pain. If you accept things as they are you will be free, perhaps even enlightened. The practical point of this is that we all know wise decisions and solutions to problems come from a clear calm mind. This may be the reason pain exists, a propellant to help us in the path of self improvement to solve all problems by learning not to fight situations in our search for happiness.

The source of confusion, Duality

Scattered and jumbled feelings come up from a misunderstanding of the cause of the feelings. Most often the actual cause of a problem has nothing to do with the apparent cause. We are so fixed on the apparent cause that we do not see the real cause. This is due to being in the realm of duality. Duality tricks us like a magician. Look at his hand, and really he is moving things with his foot.

We see the world and all the difficulties in it as the cause of our troubles. It is true that should those piles of bills disappear, life would be better, however, there would be some other cause of distraction to take the place of the bills such as where to invest your money safely. This will never end. That is the apparent cause, not the real cause.

The real cause of our lack of control and pain, is the illusion of what causes it, and more precisely, our belief in the illusionary cause. Learn to see the real cause, which is your opinion that things have to be a certain way, specifically, your way. Then you can be free of the causes, and therefore the pain ends, and with it, the need for pleasure. The end of the swinging pendulum of emotions results in the perfect stability of wisdom at all times.

When these two opposing forces (alleviate pain ⎯ gain pleasure) disappear, the only thing left is balance. When the pull between two opposing forces no longer exists, there is no conflict, internal or external, the tension on the rope in the tug of war is gone. If there is no pull either way, there is nothing other than contentment, the Grand Ultimate Unity. You will experience total relaxation.

You will still be the same person, but you will exist in a state of peace and contentment with the possibility of experiencing a deep inner peace and wisdom, which can only be felt in the divine state of no conflict, no duality, no illusions of separation. Separation is simply the belief in duality.

Yes, it does take time and tremendous effort to fully integrate these concepts, but do you have anything more beneficial to do than eliminate pain and suffering?

The principle behind questioning your beliefs is not to become so confused that you can not function, rather it is to begin the process of breaking your fixed opinion of an independent, stand alone you. This belief is so deeply imbedded in us that it takes much work attacking and questioning our entire belief system to begin to uproot it.

Ultimately, we are all connected in the way that if I hit you, you will look for the chance to hit me back, which may be to hire an independent contractor. Thus a total stranger gets involved in our conflict. That can bring in his friends and family. Soon enough, because I hit you, two families or companies are fighting each other and never know where it all began, with someone from a totally different family who is not even involved in our feud.

It is hard to stop believing anything you see or hear, but that is the only way. Not in that you do not trust anyone ever again, but you must give yourself the credit of your intelligence to determine reality on your own so that you do not take everything as fact when it comes from a source unknown to you personally, i.e; the TV, newspaper, the proverbial "they".

Here is a little story to convey the importance of seeing a situation as it is and dealing with it in its reality rather than your illusion.

A young boy asked a priest if God could do anything He wanted. “Of course He can, He is God.” The boy replied he could prove that was not true, which incensed the priest who demanded to hear this blasphemy. The boy replied; “Even God cannot beat four aces with a pair of two’s.”

If God has to follow the rules of the game, then so do we. Whether it is success or failure that comes to you each day, deal with those two very temporary states the same, in the best way you can without resistance or attachment and you will live a very happy and successful life.