Member-only story
Why thinking we have a ‘self’ to protect is the cause of all our suffering
All our suffering stems from the belief we have a ‘self’ to protect.
Bold, right?
I stand firmly by this, but I’m not the first to make such an assertion.
One of the central tenets of Buddhism is the need to abandon the mentally-constructed illusion of who we think we are to live a peaceful, empowered and effective existence.
Let’s take a closer look at what I mean here.
As humans, we have the power to create an experienced reality using our thoughts.
If we hold something to be true in our minds, we literally create a version of ‘truth’ as perceived by us.
Why does it happen this way?
In a word: survival.
Everything about who we are has been honed over millennia in a continual process of helping us survive in our environment.
Our thoughts were developed to help us get what we want in a dangerous world.
When we imagine what we want, every strand of our being is put to work to make it happen.
Our brain becomes attuned to our environments because it wants to match our behaviours to our survival needs and wants.
