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Originally Posted by Gem
I suppose I could just say 'if not...' but all ifs are speculative, and that's fine in theory, but where truth is concerned, there is no if.
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Of course there are ifs.
If I am aware a low tree branch is there on the trail I am walking on, I duck and pass under it. If I am not aware it is there, I hit my head on it. One "if" results in unnecessary pain and suffering, one does not. The "ifs" are potential states of awareness I can be in, in any given moment, and the resulting effects or actions these states result in.
In the same way, if I am aware I can be here now free of my conditioning, I will not create various conflicts and suffering that I would if I am not aware I can be free of such things.
What I am aware of or not aware of, what I understand or don't understand, changes everything. It changes how I experience and perceive now. It changes what I produce or project outward into this now. It changes what I am identifying with and therefore what I am in this now.
Now what you may be focusing on is the "how." If I am one way, unaware, conditioned, how do I become the other? What is ultimately responsible for me being one or the other? Can one willfully choose which one I am? Is something else responsible for which state I am in in any given moment?
The process is pretty simple. We become aware of suffering, aware of something we don't like, we seek a way to end this suffering or to get rid of or eliminate something we don't like.
We hit our head on a low tree branch we are unaware of, we suffer, we then are aware it is there and do what we need to do to not hit our head on it anymore. The suffering which was a result of unawareness of a particular thing, triggers us becoming more aware. When we are aware of a cause of our suffering, we end it. This basic process is all there is to it, though it can become very subtle and deep as we get into more subtle forms of suffering that are a result of our unawareness of various things.
For example, you ended that one post with "No one ever said to them that you are just as you are and nothing needs to be done about it" meaning you found suffering in trying to become something other that what you are and so you ended it.
A more subtle layer to that is something was done about "it." It was the conflict, (suffering) in not accepting things as they are, and what was the result of this suffering and the drive to end it was an understanding or awareness I can be here now without this conflict by dropping this idea of self judgement and this idea I should or need to be or become something other than what is. After all, what I am in any given moment is not defined by an idea, or a thought, even if such things come from myself, as "myself" is not either of these things or a product of them, unless I subconsciously am identifying with them as self which means a lack of awareness is there, which means I have not identified this particular cause or subtle form of suffering.
One can be walking on that trail and be being bit by some very small insect one is not aware of so nothing is done about that cause of suffering as we are only vaguely aware it is there. It's not until the results of the bites become obvious to us that we can do something about the cause. Many teachers try to point out the cause, but listeners can't understand or see yet the actual cause. They are unable to see or understand the small insects yet...eventually they will. That moment of insight, "ah it's these little bugs! I was not aware they were there! Now I can do something about them."