ALL PROBLEMS ARE ILLUSIONS OF THE MIND

 

It feels as if a heavy burden has been lifted. A sense of lightness. I

feel clear. . . but my problems are still there waiting for me, aren’t

they? They haven’t been solved. Am I not just temporarily evading

them?

If you found yourself in paradise, it wouldn’t be long before your mind

would say “yes, but. . . .” Ultimately, this is not about solving your

problems. It’s about realizing that there are no problems. Only

situations — to be dealt with now, or to be left alone and accepted as

part of the “isness” of the present moment until they change or can

be dealt with. Problems are mind-made and need time to survive.

They cannot survive in the actuality of the Now.

Focus your attention on the Now and tell me what problem you have

at this moment.

 

I am not getting any answer because it is impossible to have a

problem when your attention is fully in the Now. A situation that

needs to be either dealt with or accepted — yes. Why make it into a

problem? Why make anything into a problem? Isn’t life challenging

enough as it is? What do you need problems for? The mind

unconsciously loves problems because they give you an identity of

sorts. This is normal, and it is insane. “Problem” means that you are

dwelling on a situation mentally without there being a true intention

or possibility of taking action now and that you are unconsciously

making it part of your sense of self. You become so overwhelmed by

your life situation that you lose your sense of life, of Being. Or you are

carrying in your mind the insane burden of a hundred things that you

will or may have to do in the future instead of focusing your attention

on the one thing that you can do now.

When you create a problem, you create pain. All it takes is a simple

choice, a simple decision: no matter what happens, I will create no

more pain for myself. I will create no more problems. Although it is a

simple choice, it is also very radical. You won’t make that choice

unless you are truly fed up with suffering, unless you have truly had

enough. And you won’t be able to go through with it unless you access

the power of the Now. If you create no more pain for yourself, then

you create no more pain for others. You also no longer contaminate

the beautiful Earth, your inner space, and the collective human psyche

with the negativity of problem-making.

 

If you have ever been in a life-or-death emergency situation, you will

know that it wasn’t a problem. The mind didn’t have time to fool

around and make it into a problem. In a true emergency, the mind

stops; you become totally present in the Now, and something

infinitely more powerful takes over. This is why there are many

reports of ordinary people suddenly becoming capable of incredibly

courageous deeds. In any emergency, either you survive or you don’t.

Either way, it is not a problem.

Some people get angry when they hear me say that problems are

illusions. I am threatening to take away their sense of who they are.

They have invested much time in a false sense of self. For many

years, they have unconsciously defined their whole identity in terms of

their problems or their suffering. Who would they be without it?

A great deal of what people say, think, or do is actually motivated by

fear, which of course is always linked with having your focus on the

future and being out of touch with the Now. As there are no problems

in the Now, there is no fear either.

Should a situation arise that you need to deal with now, your action

will be clear and incisive if it arises out of present-moment awareness.

It is also more likely to be effective. It will not be a reaction coming

from the past conditioning of your mind but an intuitive response to

the situation. In other instances, when the time-bound mind would

have reacted, you will find it more effective to do nothing — just stay

centered in the Now.