The Effortlessness of Difficult Experience
La Facilidad de la Experiencia Difícil
A teaching on how believing the mind's narrative of avoidance becomes our reality, and how recognizing that even fear and pain are effortlessly experienced can free us from their grip.
The Effortlessness of Difficult Experience
A teaching on how believing the mind's narrative of avoidance becomes our reality, and how recognizing that even fear and pain are effortlessly experienced can free us from their grip.
That is the problem: the belief that you need what the mind offers. The mind does what the mind does. It will try to move you toward more pleasure and away from fear and pain. But when you believe that this is what you need, you buy into the narrative of the mind, and that becomes your reality.
The trap of avoidance
If you experience fear and pain, and you notice that it is effortless to experience fear and pain, at some point you become free from it. Free from the chains of trying to avoid fear and pain. You don't need to run toward them, but avoidance is no longer what your life is about.
An acquired taste
In a sense, this is like an acquired taste. It is easy to hear the sound of my voice right now, and hopefully it is not causing any pain. That hearing is effortless. But with experiences that cause fear and pain, to recognize that the experiencing itself is effortless: that takes some time, a process, before you are able to see it clearly.