For a lot of us, we can look at others who seem to be struggling and say, ’Well, at least I’m not an addict. I’m not an alcoholic. I don’t abuse drugs.’ But truthfully almost all of us are addicts and the deepest thing we’re addicted to, our drug of choice, is actually suffering. The very thing we want to be without is the thing we’re addicted to, and that’s suffering.
Not many people will admit it. Not many people even want to know that they’re addicted to suffering, but when you look at it very sincerely, you’ll see that many of us have no idea how to live life without suffering. We have no idea how to interact, how to be, what to do with our time and energy if we weren’t suffering.
As I’ve mentioned, there is a piece of us that wants to suffer because it is through suffering that we maintain this wall of separation around us. It is through our suffering that we can continue to hold onto everything we think is true. Wearing the veil of suffering, we don’t really have to look at ourselves and say, ’I’m the one that’s dreaming. I’m the one that’s full of illusions. I’m the one that’s holding on with everything I have.’
[Video description: A mud-covered child in the middle of a muddy field behind a long white single-story house. The child sizes up the puddle in front of them and declares decisively, “I’m gonna hop in this!” They jump, throwing both legs out in front of their torso in a V-shape, landing squarely in a seated sprawl in the mud with a thick heavy *splort*. The person filming snorts and giggles before the video cuts off.]
One thing I’m going to make a habit of if I ever have kids is asking “do you want the fast answer or the full answer? »
Because as a child one of the most frustrating things was asking a question and
1) the adult brushed me off with the quickest answer possible because they either didn’t think I would understand the complete answer or because they were busy
Or
2) the adult immediately began to explain in-depth to me, or using a book or computer to show me something that I didn’t care about that much and just wanted a brief answer to
Sometimes kids will ask “what are clouds made of?” And you can say “water” and they will be like “okay.”
And other times they will be like “but why don’t they look like water? How do they get up there? Why do they float?” Etc. Etc.
Yeah! This also applies to adults, tbh. Sometimes I don’t want a big explanation, just answer the question!
I’ve definitely done this at work lol.
Ah! Useful scripts for people with anxiety and/or poor social skills!
