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The first thing Buddha said was that the nature of life is dissatisfaction and that this arises precisely from over-identifying ourselves with what we “think” and “feel”, because the illusion to be dispelled is to believe that we are what we think and feel, when in reality it is the mind that thinks and the body that feels. We, as we understand ourselves, do not exist except as the idea that we have constructed for ourselves of what we are. This is easily ascertainable if we sit in silence, our mind will start to wander and think things by itself.
Once I had a realization about inner peace, and it made me feel very peaceful, but I made the mistake of rationalizing my experience by telling myself not to hold on, that this will pass and so on. There was this over-identification with my thoughts, which didn't allow me to observe with equanimity the moment when the state of peace disappeared, and consequently I went back to feeling like crap
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That is why it makes sense that the “I” is conditioned, because precisely the “I” are those emotions and thoughts that arise by themselves from the body and mind-which create the illusion that one is the one who thinks and feels-but these depend on Karma or past experience, which I would consider as everything we have felt and thought in the past product of circumstances, which in turn is influenced by other things we have felt and thought in the past product of circumstances again. What happens then, is that the ego or conditioned “I” is constantly creating our life based on everything we are experiencing, we are not doing it and that is precisely the biggest mistake: believing that we are in control of our lives. The point is that if we over-identify with whatever life throws at us, we will be falling into certain patterns of feeling and thinking that can create the conditions for pain and suffering to arise, or for peace and the cessation of suffering to arise.
Once I had a realization about inner peace, and it made me feel very peaceful, but I made the mistake of rationalizing my experience by telling myself not to hold on, that this will pass and so on. There was this over-identification with my thoughts, which didn't allow me to observe with equanimity the moment when the state of peace disappeared, and consequently I went back to feeling like crap
.That is why it makes sense that the “I” is conditioned, because precisely the “I” are those emotions and thoughts that arise by themselves from the body and mind-which create the illusion that one is the one who thinks and feels-but these depend on Karma or past experience, which I would consider as everything we have felt and thought in the past product of circumstances, which in turn is influenced by other things we have felt and thought in the past product of circumstances again. What happens then, is that the ego or conditioned “I” is constantly creating our life based on everything we are experiencing, we are not doing it and that is precisely the biggest mistake: believing that we are in control of our lives. The point is that if we over-identify with whatever life throws at us, we will be falling into certain patterns of feeling and thinking that can create the conditions for pain and suffering to arise, or for peace and the cessation of suffering to arise.
