Struffering
It’s a new word I just made up. It’s a combination of struggling and suffering – Struffering.
The Buddha’s essential teaching is that the human condition is suffering. He could have easily said struggling and the concept would remain the same.
What are we struggling with? The answer to this question always seems to be something out there, when in fact it’s something in here.
I’m sure you’ve noticed that most of our suffering doesn’t come from the situation itself but from our response to it. So where does our response live, out there or in here?
“In here” is the conversation going on in our mind. That’s where the struggle occurs and the suffering happens. You’re “Struffering.”
The conditioned you – the ego – resists reality and that always ends up with the same result – struggling.
Quoting The Grasshopper:
“Struggling is an insurance policy to keep whatever is bothering you in place.”
How many times can you go over it before you notice that you’re going over it again? It’s a repetitive thought loop that remains on auto play until the batteries run out.
There is a remedy, other than waiting for your mind to get tired of this idea before it latches on to a new one to struggle with.
This answer is like your first taste of alcohol – it may burn going down. The answer is always acceptance.
Accept that your mind is on auto pilot. There is a step before acceptance. It’s recognition. Recognize that you are in a thought loop. Then accept that your mind can struggle and suffer with whatever it wants. The noticing and accepting has an interesting side effect – the struggling subsides and the suffering ceases.
Again, quoting The Grasshopper,
“Acceptance is the clutch that disengages the ego.”
Accepting something gives it nowhere to go. It’s like the scene in the movie CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER when CIA analyst, Jack Ryan advises the President on what to say when the press comes to him and asserts that he was friends with the assassinated businessman who was a major drug dealer. I can’t remember the exact line he recommends but it went something like this: “We weren’t just friends; we were lifelong friends.” The result was there was no place for them to go once that admission was made and the situation was diffused.
Acceptance is diffusion. It diffuses the ego. Acceptance ends the struggle and opens the door to peace.
Struggling and suffering are twins who were separated at birth. When they reunite they become stronger than the sum of their parts and turn into the super villain called Struffering. Like Superman, Struffering has only one weakness – Acceptance.
All the best,
John
http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan
http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301
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