When we are stressed out, we seek stillness and peace. When we are emotionally distraught, we seek comfort and ease. We desire to become empty, so we don’t feel these discomforts any longer.
Some people try to find this emptiness in drugs or alcohol. Others go so far as to attempt to end their lives to quiet the discomfort within their being.
Some people try to find emptiness in meditation. They attempt to come to the realization of the Emptiness of Inherent Existence. This is the realization that all phenomena that can be experienced are devoid of inherent existence. Behind all phenomena is the radiance and emptiness of the natural consciousness that is pristine now, was pristine in the past, and will be pristine in the future.
Meditation is the way to resolve our stress problems, not drugs or alcohol, not hiding from them in states of unconsciousness. The clear seeing of the emptiness of all phenomena is the only lasting way for us to find true comfort and peace in our lives.
