Is there a way to find peace and freedom from affliction? Does truth have a bearing on this?
Let’s see…
Phenomena are spontaneously arising and naturally self-liberating. We have no control over said phenomena because we don’t exist as any kind of being that could exercise control.
Therefore bringing clarity to the actual state of affairs promotes a better relationship to the essential facts of reality. Truth, in other words. Or at least the conscious and earnest exploration of what-is in order to arrive at it.
Much of our human suffering is a result of misapprehending the basic nature of what-is, because not recognising the true nature of reality tends to corrupt and frustrate the expectations and demands that we make of it. In other words, delusions and wrong views lead to suffering.
The Buddhists point out the Three Dharma Seals regarding the nature of existence: impermanence, no (independent) self, and nirvana (or transcendence).
I would also emphasise non-doership, viz. the spontaneously arising nature of all phenomena.
So we explore what-is through our direct experience because clarity diminishes suffering and the truth sets us free.
In this active inquiry and exploration, we invite experiential scrutiny of our (pre)existing conclusions and presumptions.
And if experientially observable facts are discovered that would collapse our presumptions like a house of cards then we welcome that.
Some other considerations/observations:
There are no fixed points (in conditioned reality).
There’s nowhere to ‘plant the flag’ of identity.
There can be no lasting happiness in the field of incessant change.
And no control.
Fighting reality is painful.
Our true nature is consciousness-being. It’s unchanging and ever-present. Realising this (in an abiding way) is freedom.
Recognise that all phenomena comes and goes on its own.
Recognise that the one that recognises this is awareness itself.
Recognise that awareness is you.
How do we come to know this, recognise this?
Meditation,
Self-inquiry,
(Alone or in Satsang),
Study, to some degree.
Basically, by sustained exposure to and reflection on (one’s) open awareness/no-mind. (And a healthy dose of Grace).
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