Pain

[Perspective]

Originally Posted by Filling the Void

In the end, if you avoid pain, you'll love less, feel less, be less. True fulfillment comes at some cost.

I've had a tendancy to want to avoid pain... or to let it consume me. lol
How do you find the balance?

At times, pain has been able to teach me a lot... but must it come at so much...pain? ;)

[Emmalevine]

Buddhists say we should walk the middle path, ie between the poles of joy and pain. I don't think there could be any growth without pain but at the same time we don't need to stay in it. I like to think of any emotion, event or thought like a cloud passing overhead - it will linger for a while and shut out the light, but it will pass by nature. Therefore we can't get too attached to any state of mind, or indeed anything at all. Nothing is permanent.

[Lynn]

Hello

Being one that suffers from Chronic pain on a daily basis I have found that embracing it be there helps a ton.

I am not only talking either on the physical injury pain but on the emotional pain it too bring forth. I used to get mad and do the WHY me.....but that just fed into it more and brought out negative emotions.

In finding that place of balance I have found that place to wake in the morning and go OK this and that hurts yes but " I am alive" having had an NDE I know how very blessed I am. Too then I can take it farther and go ....

I fractrued C4 in me neck man I am blesse to be walking or even more not on a machine to breath. Finding the possitives in a sea of what could be negatives if finding that place of balance.


Lynn

[Perspective]

Thanks for your replies.

-snip-

Starbuck - well put. I'm working toward handling emotions more gracefully like that.

Lynn - Thanks for sharing your experiences & about gratitude.
Also, you're signature quote, "Just Become" really resonates with me.


Edit by SF Staff

[Xan]

Perspective... The best method I know for getting free of pain of all kinds is EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique. You can learn more about it in this article: http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=3784


blessings,
Xan

[Perspective]

-snip-

Xan,
Thanks for that info. It sounds interesting & worth looking into more. I had massages from a guy who seemed to do some of that muscle testing. I wonder if thinking & feeling about metaphysical-related affirmations while pressing pressure points would help?


Edit by SF Staff

Kabbalah says there's no point in suffering... That pain is not needed for spiritual evolution. I would say that suffering is not the point, or even the mean that God wants us to go through the process. Suffering is more like a reaction, a manifestation into reality that we are not living the life we were supposed to, or a lack of joy for being away of what we truly desire or are seeking. There is suffering at different levels - physical, emotional, psychological - and sometimes it is impossibe at all to avoid or prevent it, and it has more or less direct consequences in our lives. I would not say that pain teaches us, it warns us, awakes us, but we have to know how not to let it consume us, and that might be a hard task sometimes. Could it be a tool used by God to teach us, change us somehow?... I don't know, but I hope He is aware of the suffering that millions of innocent people are going through...

here is a good website that speaks about the witnessed state http://www.kundalini-teacher.com/chakras/witness.php dont avoid the problem just think about the pain wile detaching from the emotion, not feelings, these are different from emotion. An emotion is in our memory banks attached to an event that causes blind spots over our eyes. a feeling is pure. with pain we should analyze it and come to a true understanding of why we may feel think or act in a negative way. the truth will set you free. this practice helped me more than i could say, we truly do have the capability to control our mind. i recommend the movie ''What the bleep, down the rabbit hole'' it helped me start this practice. This is a heavy documentary/movie about quantum theory and it will take a few watches to understand.

[Perspective]

Leah,
Thanks for your insights. Kabbalah is new to me. I wonder if Christianity also has some kind of mystic scriptures that help with meditation.
Knowing that there is so much suffering going on & that we are all connected makes me wonder if we'd ever be really free of suffering.

Mahakali,
That website looks interesting, thanks for sharing. I also want to learn more about the quantum theory. I was thinking about your signature quote from Buddha. It seems that anger is turning from our spiritual selves, looking to blame, (so maybe striving for our ego part with a bottomless pit of cravings).

Speaking of Buddhism, & what you mentioned, Mahakali, I've been reading, "The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings." Among many good insights, I liked this one:

The practice of not clinging to or rejecting feelings is an important part of meditation. If we face our feelings with care, affection & non-violence, we can transform them into a kind of energy that is healthy & nourishing... When a feeling arises, Right Mindfulness identifies it, simply recognizes what is there & whether it is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. Right mindfulness is like a mother. When her child is sweet, she loves him & when her child is crying, she still loves him.

Originally Posted by Perspective

I've had a tendancy to want to avoid pain... or to let it consume me. lol
How do you find the balance?

Hello Perspective.
1: Sharing the mechanics of my balance will be of no use to you within the context of Pain, as this dance of balance consists of knowing one's inner conflict.
Knowing one's weakness' and strengths, when to push forward and when to hold back, when to comfort and when to confront.
My conflict is unique, as is yours.
Finding your balance is the right question, and that can only be answered through the experience of life's painful experiences.

2: Then, if you like, remove the concept of balance altogether.
The tug of war between avoidance and drowning, as avoidance is unproductive as too is total consumption, yes?
You choose to either avoid or confront...so, pain doesn't consume you, you choose to go into your pain.

As the Sphinx(Mystery Men) would say, If you do not have power over your pain, your pain will have power over you.
Your pain does not consume you, you consume it.
For within/beyond/behind the veil of pain is the solution for the healing of that pain.

This quote from the book you have been reading, sums it up beautifully.

The practice of not clinging(consumed) to or rejecting(avoidance) feelings is an important part of meditation. If we face our feelings with care, affection & non-violence(self love/compassion), we can transform them into a kind of energy that is healthy & nourishing... When a feeling arises, Right Mindfulness identifies it, simply recognizes what is there & whether it is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. Right mindfulness is like a mother. When her child is sweet, she loves him & when her child is crying, she still loves him.

If there is a balance issue with all this, it's loving self that enables one to self confront an issue and knowing how much to push and how much to comfort within each exploration.
Some issues take a long time to heal, some don't.
Simple rule is, be toward yourself as a loving mother/father is toward a child as they heal or are hurting or have stuffed up or are disheartened by their shortcomings.

LOVE...empowers one to traverse the hellish valleys and also controls the rate of flow of what one experiences.
LOVE...the universal ingredient for every moment of one's life.
Your balance is discovered within the journey...love yourself as you walk.