In the teachings they say that our basic nature is free from confusion and full of qualities such as loving-kindness, compassion and clarity. It says that the confusion and suffering we experience is temporal or “adventitious,” which means that it is non-essential…not part of our basic nature. This is a lot different from the idea of original sin.

I have thought a lot about how this is so…how we can say this? How can we say that our basic nature is free of confusion when we see so much confusion in our minds and the world around us?

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Question: I have suffered from a mental illness for 20 years, due to a very traumatic and severely sexually abusive childhood. I struggle to stay present with people, and am still prone to rages at times due to this. But that is when i am disconnected. I forget to stay present as it is automatic for me to disassociate...I am getting better at it and have had a lot of high quality treatment from a gestalt psychologist who also practiced mindfulness. It is 80% better but i am also prone to paranoia. My question is can paranoia be addressed from the Buddhist perspective?....it still causes major problems in my life and takes me back into my childhood still?

Response:Thank you so much for your question Mandy. I do appreciate the boldness and openness in the questions you ask. Your longing and inquiry show that there is so much light coming through.

I have of often thought about how we all have our own stories. Some people, you for instance, have had to face some very challenging circumstances. When we are young we don’t have the clarity or support to digest these kinds of experiences and so it can be quite traumatic. If we are not able to understand and make peace with these circumstances we take what we learned as a child into life and continue to live from that reality. I’m sure you understand this already.

I think, in a more general way, we all have experiences in an ongoing way that we have trouble digesting. It is impossible to live a life with no trauma at all.

I am not a psychologist so I can’t speak clinically about paranoia. But I can say that through practice I have seen personally that light can always come through. What I mean to say is that the challenges we face in life may not be as solid as we perceive them to be. They arise due to causes and conditions, and anything that arises due to causes and conditions, is subject to change…they are “flimsy”, so to speak. Of course, we don’t experience difficult experiences as flimsy, we experience them as intense and powerful! But still, they only arise as long as the causes and conditions for them to arise are present. For instance, suffering will continue to arise as long as there is a strong focus on “me”. It will dissipate when we cultivate loving-kindness for others.

In the teachings they say that our basic nature is free from confusion and full of qualities such as loving-kindness, compassion and clarity. It says that the confusion and suffering we experience is temporal or “adventitious,” which means that it is non-essential…not part of our basic nature. This is a lot different from the idea of original sin.

I have thought a lot about how this is so…how we can say this? How can we say that our basic nature is free of confusion when we see so much confusion in our minds and the world around us?

Again, when we look at confusion and suffering, we see that it arises from causes and conditions. Anything that arises from causes and conditions, is subject to change…it is dependent and temporal. When we follow the path we also see there are causes for happiness, for instance, patience, generosity, love, and so on. These causes let the light come through. This helps us develop confidence that there is something bigger than just the fleeting thoughts and emotional confusion that we encounter.

It is like space and clouds. Space doesn’t create or destroy. Space is yielding and accommodating. Due to space clouds emerge and dissolve into the expanse of the sky. So the clouds are like the adventitious confusion that arises in the basic space of our nature, which is always present but often unrecognized. When we have breakthroughs in the confusion that arises in the mind we often feel a sense of expanded awareness or love. When we break through selfishness we experience love and care for others. When we break through arrogance we feel open and humble. So the basic nature of who we are is always there.

This is something we have to develop confidence in through our experience. As we practice – each time we have an experience that breaks through confusion, where the light comes through – we feel more clarity about our basic nature, which is our resting place.

Mandy, that you are 80% better, shows that you are not stuck and that more light can come through as you create more causes and conditions for that to happen. This is what the dharma is for.

I have just given a link that expands on this important topic. It is\will be available on the podcast and will be posted on my facebook page too.

All the best to you!

e