Stories and Attachments...
Living in the west, in the wealthiest and most powerful of nation on the planet, I find much unhappiness and confusion. Daily. Considering myself a "normal person" I freely admit I often share in this widespread disenchantment and confusion. Actually, I've experienced it most of my adult life. I blame the stories. I'm sure you're familiar with the stories to which I allude. They are the stories we continually tell ourselves as we struggle to align our years of societal conditioning with actual reality. The self, or ego, will always attempt to manipulate the truth (reality) so as to align the stories with actual reality. IOW's, we make stuff up out of whole cloth, so that we feel good. That, and we readily attach ourselves to things that give us pleasure and or a sense of wellbeing. Then, when things change, as they always do, or we lose the attachment completely, we suffer a sense of loss, great anxiety, or even anger. Whenever we make up stories about th...