Transformation of Suffering

[cubeananda]

One of the ancient keys to enriching one's life is the transformation of suffering.

A few poets have dug a well so rich and deep by understanding this, we may share in their gorgeous hearts.

“Long you must suffer, knowing not what,
until suddenly out of spitefully chewed fruit your suffering's taste comes forth in you.
Then you will love almost instantly what's tasted. No one will ever talk you out of it.” R.M. Rilke

“Suffering is a gift. In it is hidden mercy.” Rumi

This topic is intended to help us touch the deep blessed wound inside of us. A wound responsible for our suffering and for our ecstasies.

We all have a different perspective on the matter. I can conceive of intellectual ways to understand why suffering is a gift,
But in the core of my core, my heart of hearts, I know it was deep pain which led me to such emotional riches and sensitivities.

That I Am being fulfilled by consciously transforming suffering is truth.

And somehow it's a communion with god. This is the ancient principle, and why it is so enriching.

It has also been expressed in a practical way, a science.

It is True Alchemy. The same alchemy expressed by Eastern Mid-Eastern and European entities.

It is the motivation behind every religion and every science.

And this is why transforming all suffering is the ancient key to unity,
It doesn't merely bridge the gap between religion and science, it completely annihilates the space between the two.

It is the inner-inner wheel of the Dharma.


My question is: are you suffering right now?

"Submit in silence" this is reserved only for the most worthy.

If we are aware of our misery, our nausea, this idea becomes very refined.

Reading this, It seems as if we have to wait to suffer, but most likely you are suffering.

I've heard it said that the only real suffering is the suffering to be present!

To me, that is truth!

The more deeply one feels grateful for the misery of life the more deeply one feels the desire to be present to reality.

When we deeply wish to be present to reality everything reveals its true nature, all things which are merely distortions of our wholeness appear that way. Being grateful to experience ones own distorted nature brings one the emotional energy necessary to view things as they really are.

Being grateful for our misery.

There is much more to be said about all of this.

Transforming the death of a loved one, objectively it's a matter of retaining as much of the emotional energy as possible.
Deaths are always shocking. In varying degrees we can gain a certain emotional richness by transforming death. And that emotional richness can be made permanent.

There is something which I cannot describe about looking at things objectively.

Retention of emotional energy doesn't mean repression, if done correctly is creates a being so deep and rich
That type of being will change and participate in the growth of the universe.

 

[Mz.Gypzy]

Suffering,.... This is something that is on my mind a lot, and Have come to no solid conclusions to it, except that it sucks!

Part of the human condition is to experience suffering, as it is unavoidable,
But......
Its how we perceive and accept this suffering that is important.

I think its about the cultivation of the heart of compassion, for yourself and all beings.
And to embrace the suffering with grace. By doing this you Transform the Suffering.

The Buddhist idea That desires cause suffering is something I understand, and try to stay aware of in my day to day life.

Anytime I feel like I am suffering I ask myself. "why?"
"What is it that I am Desiring, and can I stop wanting it?"

If I am sick, and I am suffering because I want to feel well. Then I ask myself.
"Can I accept this suffering with grace? Can I drop my desires to feel well, and be grateful for the experience of feeling ill?"

I have found through practice, That A load is lightened when you realize you can CHOOSE not to suffer. This is not always easy, but the practice is beneficial IMO.



Ram Dass, I think has some great ideas about these subjects.
Heres a video

Cultivating The Heart of Compassion

He actually has a lot of talks on this subject on the internet.(Youtube search will pull up several.)



As A human, And as I grow older and know that more suffering is in my future, I want to build a relationship with it and myself so That It becomes a tool I welcome with open arms.

Gypzy Rant over :lol:

 

[cubeananda]

Thanks Gypzy,

I'm glad somebody brought up Buddhism and especially Desire.

I've found that the trick to understanding how to transform desire lies in figuring out what to desire.


If we consider Zen to be a refinement of Buddhism, then it becomes easy to see that 'being present' lies at the heart of both.

I've seen it conveyed as "cultivation of awareness" by the hardcore zen masters,

And as a cultivation of compassion by Buddhist masters.

But presence is a great word because at some point it moves from a masculine to a feminine approach.


By cultivating ones own ability to Be Present, the more of a capacity we have to allow a Presence to enter us.

Naturally our soul desires the Presence to enter us. It is truly a primordial longing. But often we have never experienced the presence in the first place! I'm sure some of us have a relationship with it,

But! If we learn to want to be present (and nesecarily knowing that it is the most difficult thing in the universe) then we can begin to transform suffering.

For one to know that the only real suffering is the suffering to be present requires a very high level of understanding.

The roots can be traced to the primordial longing to be with the Beloved (presence)

But that level of thinking does not translate through sutras or bibles or any sacred text so well.



So we usually don't start with the core of the Dharma.

We start by recognizing that Desire is the root of Suffering.

Then we become Ill and sometimes are lucky enough to be a person who remembers

That the root of the Suffering is the Desire to feel not ill!

So we try as hard as we can to be present to the illness, the sensation of it.

If we are really lucky, and the circumstances are right, it sometimes happens that we receive an immense emotional energy simply because we wanted to be present to some form of suffering.

But seriously, most of the time we suffer and don't remember ourselves or everything we've come to know.

And the more deeply we recognize this, the clearer this primordial suffering renders itself.

This is the deepest suffering, and the only real suffering in existence. When we resonate with this, we resonate with the struggle of god himself. We begin to widen our being enough to resonate with a harmonic fraction of the suffering that god transformed.

All this pain and pleasure actually is just the soul being prepared in exactly the way which is necessary for god to be present to the state of existence.

Yet we can't know this with our minds, we have to mirror god, and we have to live in the Desire. The real Desire, not the shallow false coins of which there are many. And we have to experience real pain, due to the Suffering to be present.



So this Sutra is spawned by Lord Shiva
"1. RADIANT ONE, THIS EXPERIENCE MAY DAWN BETWEEN TWO BREATHS. AFTER BREATH
COMES IN (DOWN) AND JUST BEFORE TURNING UP (OUT) – THE BENEFICENCE."

Try to Practically be present to the breath.. -
The Beneficence may flow into you.


Thanks for reading and Thanks for contributions Gypzy

 

[oilman]

From my own religious/spiritual perspective, suffering is certainly unavoidable. But it has a purpose. Without suffering, we could never become individuals. Much of who we are and who we can become is born out of our suffering and adversity in our lives. Without that as a stimulus we never see our true potential.

So yeah, suffering is awful and it sucks and no one wants it, and yet without it I believe we would never see our best selves.

Cheers.