Dissatisfied ego looking for satisfaction

 This is a double-edged sword 😉

From one point of view, awareness (consciousness) is trying to hold together the relative picture it has created, and finds that this doesn’t work, as it is not a complete picture. It is therefore constantly dissatisfied and frustrated, which gives rise to all those negative emotions: it’s one of the reasons we get angry with ourselves, and then blame others.

But, on the other hand, we need to be dissatisfied in order to have the motivation to realise the cause of this dissatisfaction…ego clinging!

Of course, what we are talking about is happiness; no one wants to be unhappy. This is always a delicate observation, as the ego (which is consciousness clinging to fixated ideas – that’s all!) even wants to meditate and chant OM MANI PEME HUM in order to feel better.

This is okay as far as it goes, as it will definitely make you feel better. It cannot fail!

We simply have to let go. Now, because we observe this ego-clinging, we can identify the cause of our suffering.

Until enlightenment, there will be an ego, although this will gradually soften. In the experience of this softening, we have to be willing to be happy being dissatisfied!

Any discomfort we now feel is Mara demon activity – a subtle feeling of like and dislike that is constantly lying in ambush. To understand Mara, we have to understand our own feelings because Mara are also sentient. Mara demons do not like us to be satisfied and happy: it is possible to empathise with this if we can recognise that we become a little annoyed when others seem happy, and we are not!

We need a teacher to point out the subtleties of this.