Hell is Other People

[athena777]

When I'm alone or at least not talking to the people in the room I feel at peace. I'm present, just experiencing the joy of being.

But when I'm talking people, especially my mom, I feel so unhappy. They're constantly attacking me, harassing me, complaining, picking fights...I start to feel like the present moment sucks and that life is pointless.

What can I do?

[turiya]

Other people are not here to make us happy. They're here to make us conscious.

https://www.eckharttollenow.com/s/8eeeu7

[athena777]

What's the point of being conscious? To be happy?

[athena777]

I really feel miserable when i deal with them. Can I just stay away from them?

[rachMiel]

> Hell is Other People

It might feel that way ... but is it true? How much of the "hell of other people" do you/I create via our conditioned thinking?

That said, I'll pass on something a teacher passed on to me (and his teacher to him, all the way back):

A noxious state of mind is like a contagious physical illness. If you have the flu would you hang out with friends? Likewise if a person/people around you are sick and contagious, would you hang out with them?

[turiya]

What's the point of being conscious? To be happy? - athena777

Being conscious brings an end to suffering. Happiness/joy may or may not arise in you when suffering ends.

[Onceler]

What's the point of being conscious? To be happy? - athena777

Being conscious brings an end to suffering. Happiness/joy may or may not arise in you when suffering ends.

Amen.

[athena777]

What's the point of life? If you weren't alive in the first place you wouldn't suffer.

[Onceler]

What's the point of life? If you weren't alive in the first place you wouldn't suffer.

I suffered most of my life, roughly 80%, than I learned to not suffer and I’m laughing. I guess the point is to learn or get to a place where you are not suffering and you can absorb the richness and sweetness of life.....including the bad stuff, without fear.

[athena777]

But if you weren't alive to begin with you wouldn't have to learn that...

[Webwanderer]

Is life only this human experience? Or is there a larger context, in a larger reality, that is a larger experience of life? Is it even possible to not be alive as a conscious being? Is being truly conscious related to this larger context and therefore puts human life experience in its proper context where pain and suffering can be resolved as turiya suggests? Can one look at life in a way that brings peace of mind where suffering once ruled?

WW

[turiya]

athena777 wrote:
What's the point of life?

The way I see it, the point of life is just to be alive... to be Life.
But the Mind doesn't like that answer...
(It's far too simple and obvious.)

athena777 Wrote:
If you weren't alive in the first place you wouldn't suffer.

You are Life. You are eternally alive.

But... because you believe you are who you think you are (the separate "little-me"/person), suffering appears.

Here's an Alan Watts video that makes me smile:

https://youtu.be/21RwqnB8GrE

[turiya]

This one too:

https://youtu.be/taD_se5YysY

[erict]

What's the point of life? If you weren't alive in the first place you wouldn't suffer.

I think the truth is, that either there is no point, at least not in any terms that would make sense to a human mind, or that we just don't know. We find ourselves living this life, and we can make of it what we will. But the interesting thing is that for most people, when life is going well, they don't find themselves asking such questions at all.

It almost seems to me now that whenever people pose such questions, what they are really asking is "Why am I here, experiencing all this suffering?", "Why all this suffering?". Your mind is in charge of taking care of your well-being, and when it seems to be failing and finds itself flailing and trying to figure out life, to figure out how to successfully manage it so you can be happy (feel good, be well, etc.), that's when such questions often come up. But they don't really have any good conceptual answers, so it only makes one feel worse.

So perhaps whenever you find yourself asking such questions, it's best simply to recognize that something isn't going well, but you should not take the question literally and try to answer it, but rather recognize that your mind is just doing its futile thing, but there is so much more to life than interacting with it exclusively through the limited conceptual constructs and filters of your mind.

[erict]

I really feel miserable when i deal with them. Can I just stay away from them?

Yes, you should definitely consider it an acceptable and appropriate option, to limit your interactions with anyone in your life, no matter their blood relation, if the interactions are detrimental to your well-being. It is a valid option that you have, no matter what anyone would have you think.