CONTENTS
Our suffering is created by...
What are the first darts?
What are the second darts?
The effects of the second darts
Eliminating the causes of the undesired effects
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OUR SUFFERING IS CREATED BY...
Our suffering is created by all of those "inventions" of the mind that we create needlessly, making them into stories with consequences that are artificial.
In Buddhism, they refer to "negatives"(pain) as arising from "first darts" and, also, "second darts".
WHAT ARE THE FIRST DARTS?
The first darts are:
1. The physical discomfort to motivate us to save life and limb,
2. Sorrow/concern for when loved ones are harmed or potentially harmed
3. Not being in a good place in the tribe (rejection, non-inclusion, etc.), resulting
in our "survivalness" begin impaired..
These darts mostly have some inevitability to them. However, the latter two are modifiable (read my relevant writings on those, such as:
And such...
WHAT ARE THE SECOND DARTS?
Most of our suffering however comes from second darts, such as anger that we create "unreasonably", often followed by guilt about the anger and then the commentary on how awful (right-wrong, good/bad) that is, etc. and etc.
The second darts are all self-created, needlessly.
They are based on artificial criteria , based on:
1. How we want things to be ("greed", craving),
2. Animosity (hatred), and
3. Delusion (such as taking things personally)
In Buddhism, these are called the Three Poisons, as they create needless suffering and struggle and harm to the body. (Check out the logic to see if you agree.)
THE EFFECTS OF THE SECOND DARTS
Allowing oneself to create any of these second darts results in the body having to react constantly to a barrage of stimuli beyond its normal, natural capacity, and, correspondingly, drawing away energy and attention from the vital functions of the body, such as the immune system, digestive system, higher brain, etc.
These mostly manifest (produce the results) as stress. And the effects of stress harm your heart, your circulatory system, your immune functions, your brain, your happiness, your alertness and effectiveness, your cells (via cancer), your sex life, and on and on. Read the intro: Stress.
ELIMINATING THE CAUSE OF THE UNDESIRED EFFECTS
Our "work", in a sense, is to not only stop the entertaining of the delusional thoughts (such as in Managing The Thought Process) but also to be able to see that they are delusions and to clear up those delusions (Beliefs/Thoughts and Changing Beliefs).
Meanwhile, while we are in the processing of de-delusioning, we need to highly respect the body's signals and respond with calming (physical calming and "talking comfortingly" using coping statements).
The stand and the commitment for keeping the body and mind "in peace" needs to be clear and strong if we are to change the nature of how we handle things and live life.
GETTING RID OF SUFFERING - SECOND DARTS
PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF BUDDHIST PRINCIPLES
