261. Understanding Pain

No one likes unwanted pain and most pain is unwanted. When we are experiencing pain, we usually want to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

Some of the pain we experience is wholly unnecessary. It is caused by choices that we or other people have made and it would not have occurred otherwise. This includes the pain caused by systems and institutions human beings have created and support, which can inflict incredible harm on our minds and bodies.

260. Time For Creativity

When I’m feeling anxious about my ability to meet my immediate needs, it can feel impossible to do anything creative. I might think that it’s only when my needs have been fully met that I’ll be comfortable enough to be creative again. But the time for creative action is always now. It’s by thinking and acting creatively that I can best address my needs and solve the problems I’m facing.

259. What I Should Do

There are countless things I should do. I should exercise at least three times per week. I should say “thank you” when someone helps me. I should put the “e” before the “i” when I’m spelling the word “weight”. I should drive slowly near the elementary school. I should tell my friend I’m going to be late. I should get at least seven hours of sleep each night.

Some of these shoulds feel more important than others, but the source of their force is always me. It’s always my choice as to whether or not a particular should will be enforced. This is true even when there are others who will impose a penalty on me if I don’t follow the rule or norm, for my desire to avoid the penalty is yet another should, namely “I should not do anything that will get me punished.”

258. The Fog

I am surrounded by a thick fog. In every direction I look, the fog is impenetrable. I can see only what’s right in front of me, and even that is difficult to discern. When I recognize something and feel confident I know what it is and must be, it’s quickly swallowed by the fog again, and I’m left wondering where it went or if it even existed in the first place.

257. Anxiety To Conform

We want everyone to conform to the norms of society because we are deeply concerned for our safety and the safety of our loved ones. A lack of conformity suggests the possibility of social disruption or at least change, and we are suspicious of this because we cannot know what such an uncertain process might mean for us. We push for conformity and we enforce it by ensuring those who do not conform are reprimanded, ostracized, or otherwise punished.

256. The Joy Of Compassion

When I’m aware of my needs and the needs of the people around me, it feels necessary for me to take action to meet those needs. This is the action of compassion, which arises directly from awareness of need, and which works to reduce unnecessary pain and suffering.

When I take compassionate action, I help to meet my own needs and the needs of others. Having one of my own needs met can be a source of joy, for it gives me both fulfillment and release from concern over that need. Helping to meet the needs of another person can be sometimes even more joyful, as it grants me a sense of purpose and value.

255. Caught In A Net

You want to understand the world as well as you can, so you’re always reading. You read thick academic books, books about science and technology, books where experiments, models, and data are used to produce hard, satisfying conclusions.

You’ve learned a lot by doing this, but you’ve also been wondering about the justification of science itself. You want to be certain that the results you’ve discovered are reliable and won’t soon be replaced with entirely different conclusions.

254. Blocked Empathy

When I see someone suffering, I feel the need to help them. I feel this is necessary not only because I rationally understand that their suffering is no different from my own, but because I feel their suffering as my own.

It is out of the awareness that all suffering is shared that I try to respond from compassion to a person who is suffering. The first step in such a response is usually to communicate. I need to better understand the other person’s situation in order to see the source of their suffering.

253. New Ideas

It had been weeks since he’d had an original thought. Everything in his brain had been living there for ages. There were no new arrivals. He was stuck. Every day it was the same worries, the same desires, the same ideas. His mind had become solid, worn down with lines tracing the paths of the same thoughts and feelings that kept recurring.

He thought the problem was that he wasn’t seeing anything new, and this meant he couldn’t think anything new. With new stimulus, new ideas would emerge. He started going for walks around the neighbourhood, paying close attention to everything he saw. He started reading books that went beyond his usual interests. He started asking people questions he wouldn’t ordinarily ask. He started watching alternative films with strange premises and even stranger titles.