1
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When overcoming a fear, how much of a part do fearful thoughts play in making the fear a reality and creating that reality that started in the mind?

2
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How to prevent this if we can't control our thoughts?

3
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How much is the fear a reality?

4
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I guess the actual emotion is what you're experiencing.

5
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We don't have to control our thoughts.

6
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I'm just clear about that.

7
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We're not ever trying to control our thoughts, but we can affect our thoughts.

8
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Just because we can't control them doesn't mean one moment of mindfulness won't affect the next thought that comes.

9
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for sure that's the thinking that's the problem it's the conceiving that creates the fear because ultimate reality is not will not give rise to fear ultimate reality will give rise to dispassion but once you give rise once you conceive something in the object then it will give rise to fear so when you are

10
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clear in the ultimate reality, clear of the ultimate reality, clear about the ultimate reality of the experience, then the fear won't be able to arise.

11
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The thoughts about it won't be able to arise that would lead to the fear.

12
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So what can you do?

13
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Try to see the ultimate reality of the experience.

14
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It's seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, thinking.

15
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Try and see it for what it is.

16
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It's just thoughts.

17
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It's really just thoughts of whatever you're thinking comes down to it.

18
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But if you're feeling the fear, I would definitely recognize that, note that fear.

19
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And then, yeah, I think it's just really thoughts when it comes down to it.

20
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That's all it really is, is thinking.

21
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Here's an interesting one.

22
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I'm still not understanding the point of meditation.

23
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Am I supposed to remove all emotion and judgments from the one thing I am thinking of?

24
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Yeah, but that's not the point, right?

25
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That's the activity.

26
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The point of meditation is to be free from suffering, right?

27
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Is that almost like the bare awareness that people talk about?

28
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Having bare awareness?

29
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I mean, it sounds like there's an understanding here of what meditation is, but that's what meditation is.

30
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It's not the point.

31
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The point is not just to get rid of emotions and judgments.

32
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The point is to be free from suffering, which comes from being non-judgmental.

33
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Judgments lead to clinging and craving and partiality and disappointment and

34
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suffering so like when you when you have a pleasant feeling and you like it those are two different things the pleasant feeling isn't a problem there's nothing wrong with feeling a pleasant feeling and pleasure of any sort sensual pleasure is not a negative state it's not a bad thing not something we should feel ashamed of

35
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But the desire for it, the attachment to it, the liking of it, that's worse than useless.

36
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That's dangerous.

37
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That's what creates clinging.

38
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That's what creates need and striving and eventual disappointment.

39
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That's what sets you up for suffering.

40
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It's what creates anger.

41
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It's why we get angry and frustrated.

42
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discontent bored all of this comes from desire when you feel a painful feeling there's also nothing wrong with that either there's nothing wrong with that either there's nothing bad about feeling a painful feeling there's nothing wrong with you when you feel pain what's wrong is the aversion towards it

43
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Diversion towards the pain is something very different from the pain.

44
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The pain is neutral.

45
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It's ethically inert.

46
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And it's not even really suffering.

47
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When you have pain, you can be still very, very happy, or you can be at peace, even when you have terrible pain.

48
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So yeah, the key is to see the experience as it is.

49
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When it's the greatest pleasure or the most terrible pain, it's still just an experience.

50
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So the point of meditation is actually quite a very powerful result and wonderful result is that even with the most terrible pain, you can... And even with the greatest pleasure, you can experience it without becoming addicted to it.

51
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Because addiction is a very dangerous thing.

52
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It's a very wonderful result of meditation that it's able to free you from that, where you can experience the pleasure without any attachment to it.

53
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That's incredible.

54
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That's a very good point.

55
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It's a good reason to practice meditation.

56
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I always jerk around if someone asks me, you know, what's the point?

57
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I say it's to see how crazy you actually are.

58
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Because once you start meditating, you see how crazy your mind actually is.

59
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Why we do things that we do.