The cause and cure of human suffering
The following paragraphs will enable you to think in an entirely new way
about yourself and your life.
Mental dawning occurs when you understand the meaning of the word
"identification." To identify means to wrongly take something - anything
at all - as being part of what you call your "self." It means to wrongly
believe that you have an identity made up of your acquired opinions and
hopes, of your various successes and failures. You might wrongly identify
yourself as being "a happily married person," or "a person with an exciting
life," or as someone who "deserves" appreciation and comfort and security.
Identification is no different from a man who would place a sign across
his chest reading, "I am wise" or "I am daring."
Now, can you begin to see what causes human suffering? Suffering occurs
when other people and daily events refuse to believe these signs, when the
signs are ignored or criticized. Who, then, causes an individual's anguish?
Not other people, nor changing circumstances, but the individual himself
who insists that these self-labels are realities. A complete absence of
self-labels gives reality nothing to strike, therefore suffering becomes
impossible."
HOW YOU CAN END PAIN AND ANXIETY
Secrets for Higher Success, Chap. 6, p. 114 (Previous version)
Chap. 6, p. 86 (Current version)