We
constantly “solve” problems, never realizing that the only problem is the very
self we pretend to be. Lack of money,
beauty, accomplishments, popularity, or what have you, is a “problem” only in
the context of the erroneous belief that we must have more of them. If we would see through the lie and realize
the conscious entity we truly are, then the false self would disappear, and
consequently so would all of our “problems”.
The
false self guarantees that we will always have “problems”. The entire premise is that we are always in a
state of lack. As soon as we solve one “problem”,
something else that we had previously given little or no thought to will become
a “problem”. For example, if our problem is that we don’t earn enough money, we might look for and find a
good-paying job. Will we be perpetually
happy from then on? Of course not. We will then tell ourselves that we’re
overweight, or not good-looking enough, or that we don’t have enough
friends. We will be no happier, no more
at peace, than we were before we got the job.
What is
the point of “solving problems” when our state of well-being never
changes? Why live a stressful existence
of continually putting out fires? The
only way to have perpetual peace is to drop the idea that we never have enough
and that we must keep gaining/improving.
