be positive and everything will be fine. or will it?
Vic Shayne
author
The Self is a Belief: The idea that causes suffering
I recently had a conversation with someone who said he has repeatedly tried to be more positive, but in the long run a sense of negativity reemerges. He was perplexed over why this happens, especially because the positive thinking movement seems so logical. In any case, he said, there is no long-term progress in his state of happiness.
To succinctly address this conundrum: The problem with positive thinking is that it is a product of the ego that is trying to impose positivity on itself. The only “progress” that can ever arise from this attempt is by trying to recondition an already conditioned mind. But the ego has no ability to change itself, so any positive result is only a temporary improvement at best.
The sense of self, which is who we take ourselves to be, including all our beliefs, opinions, attachments, and identities, is created from psychological conditioning. We’re all heir to this same type of conditioning since early childhood. Our parents, relatives, authority figures, teachers, and so on, implant ideas about who we are into our brains, and we accept these ideas without question. Trying to undo all this imbedded thinking by trying to be more positive is an exercise in futility no matter how much Tony Robbins screams and pounds his chest.
positive and negative: two sides to one coin
Both negative and positive thinking result from the egoic self’s attachment to certain thoughts that it has been conditioned to attend to and believe in. Positive or negative, the ego is in full force.
but doesn’t positivity feel better?
Yes, it feels better to be positive than negative. No doubt. Even the body likes the positivity, as it reduces blood pressure, systemic inflammation, brain fog, and tendency toward depression, anxiety, and anger. However, the problem is that positivity cannot be sustained and it takes a lot of energy to experience it. At best it puts a bandaid over feelings and suppresses what’s lurking in the subconscious mind.
the problem of negativity comes from a deeper place
Sometimes we absolutely get sick and tired of our own negativity or our lot in life that we just don’t have the energy or interest to support it any longer. And then things may permanently change— not always, but sometimes. One example out of many is when a person decides to become a vegetarian because they just cannot stand the idea of the way animals are treated, abused, and killed for food. Perhaps they read that more than a billion factory farm animals per day are killed for human consumption and this sickens them into changing their worldview about eating and about animals. But what is really behind this change of mind? It is psychological conditioning at a visceral level.
We’re talking about the way we humans perceive and act upon our world. Sometimes conditioning leads to a very rewarding and positive life experience. But it doesn’t make the rest of your days and nights filled with positivity. So close and yet no cigar!
reconditioning does not change nature
When the self is conditioned, or reconditioned, we do not truly change its nature. That which we call “negative thinking” is as embedded within the core of the ego, the self, as is positive thinking.
That which is the self cannot become the non-self. In other words, we cannot escape what we are fundamentally. A zebra can’t change its stripes, a leopard can’t change its spots, and a person can’t change the contents of consciousness.
is there any possible way to salvation?
The idea of salvation — an escape from the self — is age-old. Christianity teaches that personal salvation is only realized through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the savior. But what is “saved” if this self remains unchanged and steeped in belief, including the belief that beliefs evoke changes?
Author David Frawley explains ancient India’s philosophy of salvation as something quite different. He wrote, “In Hindu Dharma , there is no salvation or liberation by proxy. Neither Jesus nor any other figure can save you or realize the truth for you. In fact you do not need to be saved at all! You only need to understand your true Self and the nature of existence, which are one, which takes you beyond all suffering born of attachment to body and mind. To transcend ignorance requires…spiritual practice…One cannot go beyond karma and ignorance simply by believing in someone or by accepting someone as your savior…Only Self-knowledge brings about liberation.”
the truth of what you are will set you free
To be saved from the suffering that negativity brings, positivity is not enough, because it is simply the flip side of the same coin. You must forget about the entire coin. Let it be, let it go.
Though too many Buddhists may miss this entire point, the Buddha nevertheless taught that salvation from the bouncing back between positive and negative is the Middle Way. Many have referred to the Middle Way as a path, but it is not a path at all, because nothing that is truly neutral can be a path, nor can it be fully and adequately described. The Middle Way is no way; it is beingness without effort, image-making, fear, acceptance, refusal, or choice-making.
nothing is needed but awareness
You do not need any religion, path, or philosophy to realize what you are and to be your own Middle Way. In the end, so-called salvation is up to you to find out through introspection and the enquiry into your own nature. And then, without the crutch of, or attachment to, other people’s teachings, you will discover that the self is immutable and can never be saved from negativity or any emotion. If you can truly see this then you can rise above it, to use a not-so-perfect metaphor. The salvation is in the unalloyed observation of what you and that this world really is beyond all belief, memory, and thought. It is only the self that gets caught up in it and begs for something to change.
