Addition by Subtraction

My first encounter with formalized math, starting with algebra, was love at first sight. A magical world of manipulatable numbers danced through my thoughts. That these abstract concepts could represent real-world phenomena only enhanced their mystical quality.

And so the idea of subtracting negative numbers as a form of addition proved most delightful to my analytical senses. Two minus negative two springboarding its way to a fulfilling four.

Which provides us with a fitting framework for transcending the restricting confines of body-based sorrow.

Consider our story. What story? The story we have about ourselves. When someone asks the question, "tell me about yourself" - our answer is based on our story. The story likely involves aspects of the body's past: experiences, accomplishments, failures, beliefs, and so forth.

Every emotion is based on a story. I'm upset because .... Whatever comes after the because is part of the story. In fact, all suffering is based on the quintessential story that I am this body. That the sense of "self", our me-ness, is tied to this name and body being.

Thus if anything bad happens to this body, or the bodies that this body cares about, then "I" suffer. The story of selfhood has become our reality.

But there's a way out of this fictitious narrative and into the realm of perfect peace. Enter the subtraction of negative numbers.

The story we have of ourselves is quite negative. It's a history of being born in pain, living a few years while attending to periodic, if not sustained bouts of mental and/or physical suffering, only then to die. It's an awful chronicle.

But ignoring the body and its story won't help. Nor polyannish musings of baseless optimism. All just more story. Rather, we leverage addition by subtraction.

Subtracting the negative story reveals the ever-present truth that's been covered by blackened layers of self-conviction. Much like the Socratic method, we look at each aspect of the story, with gentleness and without judgment, until the shining light of pure awareness radiates forth. Such subtraction of the negative propels us into a most pleasing positive state: infinite peace.

Join me in Thursday's class where we'll explore our devitalizing stories and practices we can develop to reverse their despondent consequences. I look forward to seeing you then.