Note 18 - False Problem-Solving

There are many ways to say that one is dissonant—many ways so we can be more specific: sad, anxious, remorseful, sorrowful, depressed, adrift. These specific words help us talk about what we feel. But often, instead of really understanding our inner conflict, we just give it a name.

When someone feels disturbed, they start searching for the right word to explain it. Maybe they’ll Google it, hoping to find an answer. They might never discover the real root of their discomfort, yet they feel relieved once it has a label. Once it’s named, it feels handled. But the real issue remains behind the veil. It becomes another description, another sentence we can say about ourselves—while the conflict itself continues. We may push it down in different ways, distract ourselves, or ignore it. Still, it stays. And it can resurface at any time.

So we never truly see the conflict—we only label it.

If we want real change, we have to learn to observe without immediately naming what we feel. To look at it directly, with full attention and without judgment. Only through this kind of simple, clear observation does clarity come. And with clarity comes understanding—without assumptions, without clinging to explanations.

The question is: how do we learn to observe like this?

Freedom itself is subtle. What takes effort is giving complete attention to a problem without calling it something, without trying to escape it. At first, this feels uncomfortable and unsettling. Looking at something deeply without quick answers makes us restless; we want to run away from it. We want relief; we do not want a complete solution. If only we stay with the problem completely, some real change occurs. Such kind an interaction with the problem, eye-in-eye makes you clear, unravels the problem completely, and solves it for one, and all.

This is natural.

At its highest point is a person who is free from inner conflict—someone who has learned the art of simply watching oneself, completely, may live free, perpetually.