Class 27 - Learning from the Negatives

For the last few classes we have been talking about so-called negative qualities. To summarise all negatives are really just the bludgeon of change. Every negative quality is actually just a wall we hit as the last stop before we learn and grow. It was the Dalai Lama that said that there isnt a big problem that did not start as a small one.

This is true of all pain. Believe it or not, there is not a thing that happens in the world for no reason. Just as if a child was about to burn himself by putting his hand into a flame, an adult would yell and grab the child from harms way. The child might cry with the shock of being yanked to safety but most of us would say that that pain was necessary so the child would learn and grow.

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional." Anonymous

So it is for us exactly the same. Each so-called negative that we experience remains negative while we experience it as a negative. For the child, we all say to the child look you were so lucky, we saved you from being burned. We try to teach the child that the pain was actually a positive experience because now it has learned and it will act differently. If this works the child will forget the pain of being saved, he will act differently and the lesson will be learned. If it did not get the lesson properly it might feel angry or resentful at the pain the adult that saved it inflicted and not learn a valuable lesson. In effect, the child would allow the pain to be swallowed down and fester inside the child, in resentment or anger.