IDENTITY DEMANDS AND COMMON SUFFERING

DEMANDS and the EXPECTATIONS which arise from them create the UNNATURAL CONDITIONS which result in UNNATURAL STRESS, UNNATURAL MUSCULAR TENSIONS, UNNATURAL MENTAL STATES, and the UNNATURAL EXPERIENCES which we call COMMON SUFFERING.

It is clear that there is very seldom a real threat to the human creature, so most of the time, for a healthy human creature, there would be a quiet calmness without any mental agitation. Remember that it is equally inappropriate if there is UNNATURAL STRESS, even if the consequences of finding that there is no threat is a flush of APPARENT PLEASURE due to the release from STRESS.

Remember that if you hold INCORRECT ATTITUDES impregnated with non-relevant past memories of sensations, emotions, and conscious thoughts, then every response may be inappropriate. Not only then do INCORRECT ATTITUDES result in INCORRECT ACTION, but also in UNNATURAL STRESS.

Do you see that the difference between UNNATURAL STRESS and NATURAL STRESS rests in the presence of these internal forces, which we called DEMANDS for SATIATION? It is the strength and the prolongation of the DEMAND or DEMANDS which are alien to natural function, and it is the resulting EXPECTATIONS which act as a driving force to increase the PRESSURE to encounter a solution. This, in turn, elevates the levels of the UNNATURAL STRESS and TENSION.

Below the level of CONSCIOUS AWARENESS, what the system does in the INCORRECT condition is define and interpret the STATE of the MIND on the basis of the nature of the initiated DEMAND, and, on the basis of INCORRECT ATTITUDES stored in memory, forms EXPECTATIONS. We can say then that the the UNNATURAL DEMANDS together with EXPECTATIONS form UNNATURAL MENTAL STATES.

How does this relate to SUFFERING? The reply is evident. The often debilitating EXPERIENCES of COMMON SUFFERING are direct MIND STATE interpretations of signals of the UNNATURAL DEMANDS, signals of the aroused EXPECTATIONS, and interpretations of the signals of STRESS, based on the nature of the DEMAND and EXPECTATIONS on the one hand, and the relationship between EXPECTATIONS and the real OUTCOME on the other.

THE EVOLUTION OF A NATURAL RESPONSE

                       NATURAL DRIVE

                       PREDICTION of CORRECT ATTITUDE                          POSSIBLE OUTCOMES

                                         CORRECT BEHAVIOUR

  NATURAL MUSCULAR TENSION

       NATURAL STRESS                        OUTCOME

It all seems incredibly complicated, doesn't it, but if you use the diagrams as a guide you will grasp the principal ideas behInd all these words and explanations. That is the important thing. Don't make the mistake of forcing your mind to remember anything. Remember that your Identities control CONSCIOUS INTELLECT, so read with MINDFULNESS in a relaxed way and all will eventually fall into place. Look at the following simplified version of the evolution of an unnatural DEMAND.

There are three of these UNNATURAL DEMANDS and they are:            

           The DEMAND for VISCERAL SATISFACTION

           The DEMAND for EGO SATISFACTION

           The DEMAND for DOMINATION

THE CYCLE LEADING TO THE UNNATURAL MENTAL STATE

      UNNATURAL DEMAND

                          ANTICIPATION OF PLEASURE

    UNNATURAL CONDITION

          STRESS         INTERPRETATION

   UNNATURAL MENTAL STATE

                         COMMON SUFFERING

If we now examine this structure which we created we find that we have three major components THE UNNATURAL DEMAND, THE ANTICIPATION OF PLEASURE, and THE UNNATURAL MENTAL STATE. In Buddhism we use the following terms respectively when we speak about the way in which these processes are experienced. Those terms are CRAVING, EXPECTATION, and the COMMON EXPERIENCES OF SUFFERING. Remember that all EXPERIENCES related to the DEMANDS and the EXPECTAIONS are also SUFFERING.

THE CORRELATED MIND EXPERIENCES OF SUFFERING

      CRAVING

  RAW EXPERIENCE             EXPECTATION

      MENTAL STRESS         INTERPRETATION

 COMMON EXPERIENCE OF SUFFERING

When these experiences are chained together, namely; the CRAVING, the EXPECTATION, and the COMMON EXPERIENCES OF SUFFERING we find that they are the IDENTITY-RELATED EXPERIENCES which are logical equivalents of the NATURAL EXPERIENCES of GLADNESS, COMPASSION, and BENEVOLENT LOVE. Now although it may appear absurd, CRAVING is related to FALSE GLADNESS, EXPECTATION to FALSE COMPASSION, and the COMMON EXPERIENCES OF SUFFERING to FALSE LOVE.

How is this possible? Because on the instant of the arising of a novel DEMAND the first experience is that of a DRIVE towards the attainment of PLEASURE which has PLEASURABLE ANTICIPATION attached to it. The eventual goal is PLEASURE, which is actually the PLEASURE OF ATTACHEMENT.

The real base of this chain is, however, CRAVING which is  interpreted as POSITIVE by the IDENTITY which is DEMANDING satiation. The EXPECTATION too is interpreted as a POSITIVE event for the IDENTITY, and is experienced as PLEASURABLE ANTICIPATION. We have said that if the outcome of the CRAVING DEMAND and EXPECTATION are positive then there is the PLEASURE OF ATTACHMENT, which is actually to the state of SATIATION.

If the OUTCOME, however, does not coincide with the IDENTITY EXPECTATIONS then eventually that CRAVING and the EXPECTATION are experienced as COMMON SUFFERING. Can you see that even if the OUTCOME coincides with the IDENTITY EXPECTATIONS, although the experiences are pleasurable, it is also actually SUFFERING? We call that series of SUFFERING which satisfies the IDENTITY by the name of QUIESCENT SUFFERING.

Let us then look at another facet of this pleasurable suffering. Although for the IDENTITIES there may be a POSITIVE OUTCOME, the CONSEQUENCE, another step in the chain takes place. It is the debilitating experience of CLINGING. This too is SUFFERING.

We then have two chains of SUFFERING. The first is CRAVING, EXPECTATION, and COMMON SUFFERING. The second is DRIVING PLEASURE, PLEASURABLE ANTICIPATION, PLEASURE OF ATTACHEMENT and CLINGING.

 THE IDENTITY CORRELATED CHAINS OF SUFFERING

      CRAVING                     DRIVING PLEASURE

                                   Identity Drive

AGITATED EXPECTATION          PLEASURABLE ANTICIPATION

                    OUTCOME NEGATIVE  OUTCOME POSITIVE 

                   INCREASED CRAVING  PLEASUREABLE ATTACHMENT

                                            CLINGING

Now UNNATURAL STRESS and SUFFERING, which is the interpretation of CRAVING, EXPECTATIONS, and COMMON SUFFERING are often experienced together. This STRESS and SUFFERING are perceived in error to be the cause of the MENTAL STATES. This error occurs because STRESS, the awareness of MENTAL STATES, and the resulting COMMON SUFFERING occur so contiguous in time that they cannot be perceptually separated. When the CONSCIOUS INTELLECT tries to make logical sense out of the situation in the absence of conscious information about the existence of UNNATURAL DEMANDS, it makes an elementary and logical mistake.

That makes it all very convenient, for we can point to the AFFLICTED MIND and say that the AFFLICTED MIND is causing the CRAVING (SUFFERING), EXPECTATION (SUFFERING), COMMON MENTAL SUFFERING, and also the DRIVING PLEASURE (SUFFERING), PLEASURABLE ANTICIPATION (SUFFERING), THE PLEASURE OF ATTACHMENT (SUFFERING) and CLINGING (SUFFERING). Actually the truth is clear. Each is itself an experience of SUFFERING, which forms a cycle of SUFFERING.