Suffering Does Not Prevail

Suffering can never prevail because suffering is not real. If you find yourself suffering at any time, it is always known that it is only a passing phenomenon, and when it passes, all that ever remains is peace – total, abiding peace.

So, in the midst of suffering, this abiding peace can be touched – looked to as the underlying truth of what is going on at all times. There is never anything to fear, even in the midst of fear. There is never anything to lose, even in the midst of loss. Peace is always the rock bottom, the default, one unchanging ground that can always be counted on.

This is not about a bad mood being replaced by a good mood. You are neither your good moods or your bad moods. All moods pass, all thoughts pass, all suffering passes, all bliss passes, with peace as the background, and peace is always here. Peace prevails.

Suffering of even the slightest degree is brought about by your telling a story. It cannot come about any other way. It isn’t real, and doesn’t happen by itself. It is not “already there.” Peace is already there. Always, before and after all story. You can take that to the bank.

First there is peace. Always, there is peace first, and last. Always. But these stories are extremely subtle. They sneak in. When you wake up in the morning, you tend to start thinking about your needs. And every need has a story of lack associated with it, and every story of lack causes suffering. Then it continues and builds all day long.

Comes a little thought, “I would just like to be reassured that I’m doing okay.” For most people, there is an underlying fear that we are somehow “not okay,” and much of our life and story has to do with finding ways to be reassured that we are okay.

Think of all the mental energy you put into battling this one basic insecurity. Almost every human endeavor has this one insecurity at the root of it – trying to convince the world and ourselves that we are okay. Most of what we suffer about has to do with the false belief that something is wrong with us, and there is something that can be done to make it stop hurting.

But the hurting cannot survive. The hurting cannot ever overpower the peace that it appears within. See right now that in the absence of the thought “I’m not okay,” there is only peace. See that a thought is only a thought, and not reality. See that “I’m not okay” is nothing but a passing breeze, and it can be let go. It does not need to be fed a feast of needs. See that “I’m not okay” is one tiny particle of dust in a great blue sky, and does not need to become a hurricane.

Go back to the source of whatever belief is causing you to suffer. It probably has “I’m not okay” at the root of it. We create a need around the passing thought “I’m not okay,” and then we forget the thought (which already passed), and now the need has become the goal. We get fixated on the possession or event that we think will make us feel “okay.” Money, sex, love, enlightenment, recognition, whatever it is, we think that when we get that thing, we will be okay, and the hurting will stop. And so we forget that a passing thought, a tiny puff of a cloud in the sky called “I’m not okay,” created that whole maelstrom.

Peace is first. “I’m not okay” arises like a sneeze or a hiccup. Peace remains. Nothing can ever change that. It is what never changes. Suffering can never prevail. Whatever is arising within peace has no power. None of it is real. The suffering is not real. Who cares if it feels real? It is not real. It cannot prevail. It cannot hurt you.

Notice right now, the peace, before the thought “I’m not okay.” Notice right now the clarity of the consciousness that makes the reading of these words possible. Notice that nothing needs to be done with this consciousness. Notice that there is no point of view with this consciousness. Notice that this is peace. Notice that this peace is who you are. Nothing exists in this peace. There is no “one” who is “not okay.” There is just this simple, ordinary consciousness, belonging to no "one." Peaceful, and eternal.