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Non-duality lets us see that all is connected and in unity, that
All is One. That we are the Whole and the parts of the Whole:
that together, with the rest of existence, we form the Whole,
the totality of Life. This ensures not only that we no longer
feel ourselves to be cut off from life and from reality, but that
we know that we are the creators of this life and of that reality
for which we were searching. This enables us to become aware of
and to experience the fact that all that exists is not elsewhere
and in another time, but here and now. It lets us see that the
love, the peace of mind and the true understanding which we seem
to lack, are in fact part of our deeper nature and of what is
most real in us.
What is the origin of suffering ? We suffer because we are afraid to lose the things we are attached to. And we suffer because, through the hurts and experiences of the past, we know what it is to lose. We feel that we have already lost something and that there is the possibility of losing more. We are afraid to lose the things we own, to lose the people we love. To lose our bodies or a part of our bodies, to lose our life, our freedom, our power, our self-esteem, our personal identities and everything with which we identify ourselves. Isn't it normal to be afraid of these things? Yes, because we think that these things are all that we have and all that we are. These are our accumulations, our stock of knowledge, our personal identity. “If I could maintain my body to remain as it is when it is in good condition and young, if I could maintain a strong personal identity, a flawless image in front of others, all my possessions and all my relationships in their current state, I would heal and I would no longer be hurting. But this is not the case, because everything changes and all things transform. ” Financial security, loving attachment in relationships and momentary pleasures can give us a certain detachment and a certain sense of relief. But true detachment comes from knowing that we are not the body or the personal identity we use to go through this human experience. Detachment comes from knowing that this experience is temporary (but lived in a global and permanent context, outside of the anthropomorphic context of time). Knowing that we are presence-observer-witness of the spectacle of material life carries us much nearer to the truth. Becoming aware that we are living a transitory experience where we identify ourselves with our bodies and with the rest of the material world allows us to see this experience of life differently. Our perception, our judgement of things, our behavior and our body change, but what persists is our presence, which is outside the context of time; our presence as observer-spectators of the various games of Life. We are the creators of this marvellous material experience, and it is by our own will that we maintain the body in its particular and more-or-less changing form, and by which we maintain our experience in this world (the experience of this world). But we are not merely this body and series of experiences. Rather, these are only physical manifestations of who we are. So we are afraid to relive a difficult event, a wound which we carry. Afraid of losing, or of losing more. We are afraid of losing because we know, through experience, what it is like to lose. The wound is a mark left by the loss of something to which we were attached and that we valued. This may be the loss of an arm, the loss of a house, the loss of a relationship, loss of confidence, the loss of dignity or of self-esteem. Wounds are memories of suffering. They are marks left by events which have distanced us (seemingly, temporarily) from that which we really are. “When I am being hit or maltreated, I feel distant from my own self-esteem, from my dignity and my human value, but especially from the deepest part of my nature and from the being of the Absolute which I am.” All in all, we suffer because we feel far away from the love, the light (pure conscience) and the Source which we really are.
Of course, there are various types of medications designed to cure the body or the pains of a wounded and damaged body. But losing or feeling distant from something, this is the cause of suffering. We heal by bringing ourselves closer to the profound values of love, peace and true freedom, and by sharing these values. The fact of knowing who we are and where we come from helps us
understand the cause and origin of suffering. This changes our
veiled vision of things and causes us to look differently at what
we had believed about suffering. More contact with who we really
are, and more understanding of our deepest nature are the cure.
There is the pleasure connected to the intensity of the human experience. There are the delight and pleasure connected to wanting and to finally having what one desires. The fact of desiring makes us feel alive. And the fact of possessing, of having, makes us feel like someone who has value in his or her own eyes as well as in the view of others. This happiness belongs to the field of the pleasure of the senses and of perception: taking joy in life’s pleasures and profit from the beauties of this planet, of this material world. “I take joy and feel alive when I eat, when I listen, when I smell, when I touch, when I look… When something takes place which fills my senses. When I see that I can do the things that I like to do and when I know that others may admire me because I have access to these things.” These pleasures are intense, but often also sources of attachment and dissatisfaction. Then there is the peace and the profound satisfaction of needing nothing in particular to be happy, of being in a more permanent state of wellbeing more independent of causes. This happiness is realised knowing that unhappiness is nothing but a momentary and delimited experience which is in fact related to the whole of human experience. And knowing that these difficulties are caused by constraining and restrictive beliefs which give us a distorted and erroneous vision of reality: beliefs that make the human experience intense and tragic. This second kind of happiness is also related to the fact of knowing that with our new knowledge about the nature of things, we can continue to play the game of the human experience and to live a series of fascinating stories, but this time, in a state of detachment. We become less attached to what surrounds us, being conscious that the world’s manifestations are changeable and impermanent, but born out of that which is permanent, i.e. Absolute Consciousness, the Source or the Whole. Knowing the momentary nature of this experience, we give life a less serious, less tragic and a lighter character. We are no longer trapped in the survival of this experiencing, knowing that this human experience is only a momentary aspect of who we really are. So I am happy when I no longer believe that I am the ego (i.e. identification with the body, with its survival, and with all the difficult experiences which are attached to these facts) and when I know that this human experience is merely passing and temporary. When I profit from this marvellous journey while still being conscious of these facts. When I am calm and at peace, in the present moment. I am happy when I leave that stream of thoughts which distances
me from who I am (Presence-Consciousness); when I leave thoughts
which take all my attention and which cause me to forget who I
am. When I leave the darkness and the pain created by my own fears
and I turn again towards the light of consciousness. And when
I move closer to who I really am: the Source, but expressed in
a particular form, the Whole appearing as an identity and an entity:
as a human being.
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