LETTING GO OF SUFFERING: THE PATH OF NON-DUALITY

Dr Jean-Marc Mantel

"Mindfulness, meditation and mental health"
A one-day meeting of the Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group
of the Royal College of Psychiatry
November 14th 2008, London

The desire to transform the personality comes from non-acceptance. This non-acceptance causes suffering. On the other hand, accepting the personality as it is enables detachment from it. Detachment comes from understanding that the "I" is consciousness perceiving the personality. Since the personality is, in any case, conditioned, why try to transform it?

The violent person is identified with, and attached to, his body and personality. Letting go of this identity is a kind of death. A certain maturity is required to see this letting go not as a loss but as a deliverance.

The jealous person is tormented by a painful feeling of solitude. Accepting solitude as a part of oneself brings about a letting go and a shift in perspective.

The depressed person is trapped in expectations. When an expectation is not met, depression follows. The desire to be cured of depression is also an expectation. Realising this means that there is no longer any possible escape. Without escape, things are accepted as they are and there is no longer a problem.

Obsession reflects grasping, the ego refusing to release its prey. A prey is released only for another greater prey. But when the gaze finally turns toward ultimate consciousness, the quest vanishes.

Fear is the result of anticipation. But the past and future are only thoughts. Being, the knower of all thoughts, is thoughtless. Therefore, Being is fearless.

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