If we strip away the noise, mental pain doesn’t actually originate from the outside world — it’s born from our interpretation of it.
External events can trigger sensations, but the suffering itself is generated internally, through:
- Perception — the lens we look through, shaped by beliefs, past experiences, and self-image.
- Attachment — the resistance to change or clinging to how we think things “should” be.
- Narrative — the ongoing story in our mind that gives meaning to what happened, often replaying or amplifying it.
Two people can experience the exact same event — a breakup, job loss, public embarrassment — and one might feel devastated while the other feels freed. The difference isn’t in the event itself but in the mind’s framing.
From a spiritual perspective, the “outside” is never the real source; it’s a mirror. What hurts is not the mirror’s reflection but the part of ourselves it reveals and we resist.