So the first truth in the sequence of four that leads us to a radically different life was the recognition that we are innately dissatisfied, rarely if ever at peaceful within ourselves.
The second truth concerns what causes this unhappy state of restlessness.
There are two parts to this.
The first is that we constantly want things. By things I don't mean just physical things we can buy at a shop or take out of the cupboard. In addition to these things I also mean more mental things, like love, recognition, appreciation, praise, success (however we define this). Also we want things to be different from how they are when we are not happy with certain things. Examples include a cold, wet, windy day; being stuck in the traffic at rush hour; someone turning up very late for a meeting with you; you turning up very late for a meeting with someone.
Most of our negative moods and feelings are the result of the absence of things that we want, or the presence of things that we don't want. So we could say that the cause of our human dissatisfaction in life is desire or want. The Buddha called it "thirst".
He then took this analysis deeper, and suggested that we have these wants and wishes because we are preoccupied with our own life. Life, for many of us, is, understandably, all about ourselves. Although we may be kind and caring, we are not as concerned about the life of a person living in a city in Argentina, or indeed, a cow in India, that we are about our own life.
Our own self-centredness often expands from just about ourselves to include our those closest to us, say our immediate family and friends, and our pets and possessions, but it rarely goes far beyond this group.
The Buddha, and many other philosophers, scientists, and great teachers before and after him, have stated that how we view our sense of self - us as separate beings - is unrealistic, and that a more accurate, and nurturing way is to see ourselves as deeply interlinked with not just one another but all life, and the planet, its climate, air, seas, and so on. This can be called the Universal Self.
Although our immediate reaction to such a term might be that it is spiritual or religious, it can be explained rationally. Firstly, that the molecules that make up all of our body were, before our mother became pregnant with us, dispersed in a million different places on the planet, being part of the air we breathe, the soil from which we get our food, animals our parents ate, and so on.
After we die, whether we are buried or cremated, the atoms that make up our body once again are spread widely over time to become part of the air, the soil, and various living things.
Moreover even while we are alive and seemingly an distinct individual, we each have 90 trillion living things inside us, helping to keep our bodies functioning. We live in a society where thousands of other people toil across the continents to produce the food we eat, the tools and products we use to build and maintain our homes, and so forth. The food and drink we consume comes in part from sunlight from a faraway star, rain from the clouds, and soil, which is a complex combination of living and dead materials, from snails and ants, to dead leaves and seeds.
Where can we say we end and all of these things begin? It is impossible to separate them all out.
Thus the Buddha says our unhappiness and restless frustration at life is caused by our constant wants and wishes, which are themselves created through a very narrow view of who we are. He then uses logic to say that, if we can eliminate or manage our wants and desires, especially through changing how we perceive who we are, we can stop the constant flow of dissatisfaction running through our lives.
Therefore the equations are something like this:
Narrow self view creates myriad wants which, unfulfilled, leads to constant annoyance and unhappiness.
Universal self view significantly reduces our wants which leads to greater peace and equanimity.
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