Projection: I have no one, I feel lonely ... How can I get to the root of a particular pain? And are there other ways to break through identification with the mind, identification with the 'I' (the source of all suffering)? Yes, there are other direct roads to liberation that I will share in another blog, but first some depth on feeling pain. Feeling pain is really only necessary when the pain is actual. In other words: the pain feels so real that you can't ignore it. Often we are fully identified with the pain, fully identified with the story that the mind has figured out for this pain. For example, you feel deeply and deeply lonely, no one who really loves you, you think..., all alone. And you can't detach yourself from the story that the mind has thought about as the cause: I feel lonely, I am all alone and that is because I have no partner. You fully believe the picture that the mind offers you. You don't realize that you are not alone and have never been alone. How can you be alone at all if you are part of life itself? How can you be alone if you are part of existence itself? In addition, there are always people around you: people you meet in the supermarket, colleagues, friends, family etc. You are not alone, you feel alone, you feel lonely, as every person feels deep down alone through the pain of separation, the identification with an 'I'. We believe the story that the mind comes up with (I am alone, because I have no partner) and don't realize that the pain originates in the separation, which takes place at a young age, when we are confirmed time and again by our environment that we are a self-contained person, an 'I', who is separate from others, an 'I' who is separate from life itself, separate from other life forms: there is a separation, which is not real, but feels that way (=the ego). As long as we don't see through the 'I' and the mind, the mind will create a story about the pain we are experiencing on that moment: I feel lonely and that is because I have no partner. Looking from the perspective of our actuality, we can conclude that, for example, we live alone, without a relationship, that is all. The pain of loneliness is triggered by the stories that the mind creates: you think you need others to experience light and love in your existence. You seek light and love outside yourself, in others, instead of discovering Light and Love within yourself. Okay, so is it then..., for the moment. You are fully identified with "loneliness" and the story surrounding it. How do you embrace that pain? asked a blog reader. The moment the pain is clearly present and you are on your own: go inside. For example, use music: songs that release the pain 'loneliness' for you, so that the grief which is hidden behind the thought 'I feel lonely and that is because I have no partner' can start flowing. Realize it's a picture (even if it doesn't feel like it now), a story based on identification with the mind. The real origin of this pain is not that you are alone, but that you deep down feel separate from others, from existence, and above all from yourself ... through identification with an 'I' and identification with the mind. Be totally present with this primal pain called 'loneliness'. Go all the way in and be present, be aware while the pain is melting down. Feel where the pain of 'loneliness' resides in your body: your belly, heart, throat ...? And be present. Yes..., but what do you mean by 'be present'? By that I mean that there is "something" that perceives this pain, otherwise you would not be aware at all that the pain of loneliness has been triggered in you. How do you know that a certain pain is active in you? You know that, because there is "something" (Consciousness) that perceives this pain. I call that 'something' 'presence'. It is also called Buddha nature or Pure Awareness or Beingness. Our essence is Consciousness (Pure Awareness) and within that Consciousness the primal pain 'loneliness' appears. From that 'something', from Pure Awareness, look at this pain and allow the pain to the bone, so that it can melt. No stories, no analyzes ... Yes, it is possible that some images from the past are triggered spontaneously, memories that are linked to 'loneliness'..., see them pass by without being absorbed, they are memories, past times, just ideas that have no reality value in the NOW, the experiences are (long since) over, they no longer exist in the present, and bottom line it is not about loneliness linked to certain experiences in this life (those are only superficial layers of pain related to the personality), but it is about loneliness, which comes from our state of being as humanity: it is the pain of separation. So feel this primal pain, the pain of separation, that's what it is all about: feel completely how 'loneliness' feels..., so that this primal pain can melt. If you are not Present with this pain, you lose yourself in the pain, then you become the pain yourself, you become totally identified with the feeling of loneliness and you can no longer see (no Awareness) that the mind creates a story about loneliness, you think your story is really true, that you are really lonely, because there is no partner in your life on this moment; the result is that you feel deeply miserable. Then you are in the grip of the mind (ego), then you don't see that we are all afflicted with the pain of separation (it is not something personal). The solution is not finding a partner, the solution is not in the outside world. The solution lies in understanding the cause of this pain: identification with an 'I' and identification with the mind. Hence the importance of Awareness. Throughout our life we have been focused on avoiding pain. Go the other way: meet the pain, from Awareness, and discover its effect. You see reality as it is again, without the story of the pain of loneliness, and you have given space and attention to melting this primal pain. In addition to music, you can also use other inputs to express the pain of loneliness, for example painting or other creative expressions. Do not force, turn inside when the pain is topical (severe). See which entrance works for you. Well, that is waking up: realizing that you are not the story (I am lonely, because ...), but you are That where the story appears in (Beingness, Pure Awareness). When you realize That, you become detached from identification with emotions/thoughts; then we are able to meet the pain (without resistance) from awareness. And you can't force the shift from mind to Beingness or Pure Awareness…, that is Grace… You can work with the pain that arises when the pain is triggered (feeling loneliness). You can see through the mechanism of projection (which pictures do I stick to reality?) and above all investigate deeper and deeper the identification with an 'I'..., but the shift from the emotional/mental layer to That (Pure Awareness) is something you can't control…, you can't do it..., it awakes in you at some point in time as Awareness. And then it really becomes possible to allow old pain to the bottom. And are there other ways to break through identification with the mind/ego, with emotions and thoughts (the pictures)? Yes, above all meditation. And a 'method' described in the blog: transforming beliefs, the direct way. If you need support, feel free to contact me. www.thehealingcircle.one LinkedIn: Caroline Ootes