Suffering is a Quality of Our Forgetting
The Nature of Suffering: More Than Just Pain
Suffering is not simply the presence of pain or hardship. It is the felt sense of estrangement from the fullness of being, the contraction of life force that occurs when we forget who and what we truly are. Pain is inevitable, but suffering arises only when we resist reality—when we identify with the wounded self and mistake its limitations for our own.
The Psychology of Forgetting: How We Lose Ourselves
Forgetting is not merely a lapse in memory; it is an existential amnesia, a falling away from the deep knowing of our essential nature. It happens slowly, layer by layer, as we contract around our experiences, constructing narratives of insufficiency and separation. We become entangled in a self-referential loop, mistaking the conditioned mind for the truth of our being. The more we reinforce these patterns, the more suffering takes root, solidifying into the body, crystallizing into emotions, shaping our very perception of the world.
Psychologically, suffering is the internal resistance to what is—an insistence that reality be other than it is. It manifests as tension in the body, as the ceaseless churn of thought, as the subtle or overt rejection of the present moment. It is the ego’s attempt to shore up its fragile sense of control, even as that very control is an illusion. The deeper the identification with the false self, the more acute the suffering.
The Spiritual Dimension: Exile from Wholeness
Spiritually, suffering is the exile from wholeness, the misperception that we are separate from the fabric of existence. In forgetting, we lose sight of the infinite field in which all experience arises. We believe ourselves to be isolated, cut off from love, from grace, from the boundless intelligence that animates all things. Yet this is only a trick of perception, a veil drawn by the mind.
The invitation is not to avoid suffering but to turn toward it as a portal to remembering. When we soften the grip of identification, when we meet suffering with radical presence rather than resistance, we begin to dissolve the illusions that bind us. Each wound carries within it a hidden doorway, an opportunity to reclaim the parts of ourselves we have disowned. When we open to the pain, we find that it is not solid—it is simply energy, movement, sensation, longing to be seen and integrated.
The Path to Remembering: Reclaiming Our Wholeness
Through the body, through breath, through the vast stillness beneath thought, we return. We reclaim the knowing that was never truly lost. We see that suffering is not the enemy—it is a messenger, guiding us home. And in that homecoming, the veil of forgetting thins, revealing what was always true: we were never separate, never lacking, never anything less than the pulse of life itself, awake and whole.
Practical Steps to Transform Suffering into Awakening
Breathe Deeply: Ground yourself in the present moment by focusing on the breath. Let it be a bridge to awareness.
Move Your Body: Release stored tension through movement—walk, dance, shake, or stretch.
Witness, Don’t Resist: Notice suffering without judgment. Let it be seen, and in that seeing, allow it to transform.
Meditate on the Infinite Field: Sit in stillness and recognize the boundless awareness in which suffering arises and dissolves.
Engage in Inquiry: Ask, “Who is suffering? What is the deeper truth beneath this pain?”
The journey from suffering to liberation is one of remembrance. And each moment of presence, each breath taken in full awareness, is a step back home.
