Self-Inquiry with Vala Kondo-Legan, August 17, 2025

Again working from our on-going Sunday quote for the month of August:

 

“To go very far, you must begin very near.

But that is very difficult for most of us

because we want to escape from

“what is” ; from the fact of what we are.“

The group focused on a non linear implication from the quote;

Pain and “escape” from pain.

The question was posed, “How do we meet pain?, subsequent observations included our resistance to pain and a highly honed skill set in humans to avoid it.

The group contemplated the mind’s identification with pain for reasons of security vs the unknown and non-existence, which was framed as, “I have pain; therefore I exist”, A group member observed a subsequent “addiction to pain”, as identity.

There was observation of a collective human belief that we CAN avoid pain.

Comparison was made between Physical pain and psychological pain; with physical pain seemingly more obviously lacking in “choice”. While psychological pain is assumed to in some way be “avoid-able”.

The group took several forays into “understanding” and “analyzing” the “why” of pain, including goals to “destroy the mind’s access to pain together”. This analysis was seen to be, in itself, a way of “meeting pain” to solve or understand. We never see that we are pain.

A comment: “…allowed my thoughts to be in a better place now” was observed to be a familiar fragmenting to create  a “good” version of thought that is “better”;

Whereby pain is avoided and thought is therefore powerful and unlimited.

These observations landed the group squarely in the fact that “thought is limited”.

It was humorously observed that that thought is “unlimited” in it’s ability to perpetuate itself, nothing more.

 

—Vala Kondo-Legan