We all worry. We are constantly stressed. Somehow or the other, we lose our peace of mind. We live in fear, and we live with concerns. Of course, there are circumstances that may cause us stress, but why do we worry? Have you ever thought about this?
If we analyze this spiritually, some truths appear. The mind is constantly shuttling between parts of the past – this happened and this should not have happened or that should not have happened. We are constantly worrying about why things happened the way they happened and then we are constantly creating our own imagination of the future that in turn cause stress. Something has not yet happened, but we are worrying about tomorrow. We are creating fearful dangers that might happen next month or next year.
Spiritually, is there a solution to this? If we actually think about why we worry, it may be helpful. This is the question that we need to ask: Is there truly something called past and is there truly something called future? If one looks at it spiritually, what is a past? It is nothing but the present – the “now” that has already happened. Therefore, the past is nothing but memories of the present when it “was” the present and the future is an imagination of the present when it will happen. However, because we are unable to stick to the present moment, we lose our peace, we worry, and we get stressed.
Further, we need to ask ourselves more questions: Should we live with memories of the present that have gone by? Should we live in the fearful imagination of the present that is going happen, or should we simply try to live with the present as it is. Spiritually, it is said that there is no past and there is no future. There is only “now”, the present moment! Therefore, if we accept the spiritual truth that there is no yesterday and there is no tomorrow, there is only now and if we can be peaceful now, then will we need to worry?
As long as attachments and aversions are lurking within us, then there will be some form of worry. We either worry that something we like/love will leave us or that something we don’t like/hate won’t leave us. The deepest peace comes when those attachments die.
As far as the past and the future, there is a good quote by Alan Watts that goes something like (I paraphrase) “I recognize that the past and future are real illusions”. In other words, no, the past and future don’t exist “out there”, they arise in the moment, always in the moment, where we always are. But they seem so real that it’s hard to feel like they are illusions. Rationally we can see how they are illusions, but emotionally it’s much harder.
As far as should we think about the past or future, well, I don’t’ think the mere act of observing in ones mind “past” and “future” is a problem. One again, it comes back to attachment. If we can find a way to allow the mind to simply do its thing without interfering with it, then it will naturally settle down and/or flow just the way it needs to.
This is all fairly easy to intellectually understand. The hardest part is actually ridding ourselves of these anxieties, and I am by no means an expert on the subject. But there have been those moments in my life where fear completely vanished, and all was well. And those moments are always associated with the mind being perfectly at ease with what is. Mindfulness seems to help me the most. To just be without trying to be or trying not to be. To say “ok mind, do your thing, it’s ok”. And if you catch yourself judging, or worrying to say “ok mind, your judging, your worrying, and while I don’t like it, that’s ok if that’s what you need to do”. Because one of the most damaging things I do is get caught up in the pattern of worrying about the worrying, or getting angry that I’m angry, and so on and so forth.
To summarize: We have developed attachments and aversions, and these create anxiety. To rid ourselves of anxiety we need to rid ourselves of these attachments and aversions. In order to do that, we need to be mindful of what our mind is doing. And once we are mindful of what our mind is doing, we need to let it do what it is doing without judging. And if we do get caught up in judging, we need to not judge that we are judging. And just continue to practice that as much as we need to.
Thank you for the question and the opportunity it gave me to write this post.
Worry is a compromise for reality. This very forum is dependent on division (culture, borders, categorization), and so its existence requires anxiety. The absence of the latter would require no ability to exploit, or to take others for granted (e.g. university academics in California will take people in the Ukraine for granted, and vice versa).
Would it be worth giving up: no worry for no social circles, or money?
