If your self-esteem is based on the outcome of what you do, and not the wins/solves you get routinely along the way.....you will crush yourself.
You will avoid tackling things with uncertain outcomes...and all of great success is built on initial uncertainty.
When the mantra hums quietly in the background, taking up most of my mental space, my emotions settle and I feel deeply anchored.
It takes up a ton of energy and space other rampant and unruly thoughts would, replacing it with something calming, serene, and devotional.
Interesting article, although it should be noted that “life is suffering” is not a noble truth and the Buddha never said that.
The first noble truth is simply “dukkha” - “suffering.” It simply acknowledges that suffering exists.
Probably the closest the Buddha gets to saying “life is suffering” is something like “sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā”, which could be literally translated “all conditioned things are suffering” but in context reads more like “all conditioned things are marked by suffering.”
I think “all conditioned things are marked by suffering” feels a lot more intuitively true, circumvents the misunderstanding that the erroneous “life is suffering” engenders and helps point people more skilfully to the point you are making in your own post here.
I've been upping a lot how much metta meditation I'm doing and I do have to say I feel much more like low level MDMA constantly than ever before. Something about the stability of affect, the steadiness of attention, the willingness to look at inner gunk without flinching, the default openness of the being (though I have to be careful here), and above all the sense of "wow, love really is enough, if that's all we got, that's enough". Don't want to claim any permanent effects or trait changes, but I do want to bear witness to the power of the practice 🙏 worth a try. More dakka on metta!
People ask: "Ok, if DMT does help with cluster headaches like you say, why isn't this more well known? Why has no big philanthropist funded this yet?"
Have you ever noticed how hard it is to talk about suffering with someone who is happy and looking to have fun?
How difficult is it to bring up psychedelics in a conversation without people making silly jokes about them?
How hard is it for most people to understand that pain in large amounts leads to suffering?
Now stack all three obstacles at once.
Hence why my huge gratitude to anyone who does listen, does want to help, does support. It's rare, it's precious, it's a blessing. Diamonds in the rough. Thank you!
Seven years of meditation and studying ancient texts led to this moment. As the 5-MeO-DMT hit, I rocketed through impossible geometries toward the ultimate revelation. Spiritual masters tested me with paradoxes that tasted like colors. Angels sang backwards hymns. The sacred chest containing the Tetragrammaton (God's true name, the key to everything) finally opened with the sound of reality itself unlocking. Inside, glowing with divine light, protected by a thousand seals, was the answer to existence itself.
It was cake.