Seeing cause as cause

If we believe that mind is the forerunner of all state and that it is the creator of all things, then it must follow that the cause of everything is the mind.

There are two aspects of this "mind is the cause of everything" scenario that we need to consider. The first is that our mind is the cause of all our subjective experiences. The second is that our mind is the cause of literally everything, both our subjective experiences and our objective physical reality.

Whether this second scenario is true or not is still being debated today. I personally suspect that it is true but am happy to hold this truth as "tentative truth" until further evidence is available in the future.

However, there is no doubt that the first scenario is true. In fact, this truth is the basis for psychological therapeutic techniques like CBT and its other variations. It is also the basis for the success of works by people like Byron Katie and Bruce di Marsico. The similarity in all these works is the observation that our thought gives rise to feeling, which in turn moves us into action.

In the case of the work of Byron Katie and Bruce di Marsico, they challenge the validity of our beliefs (thoughts). When we do this process repeatedly and long enough, we are finally led to the realisation that all our beliefs are empty of any real substance. They are not real. They become real to us only because we believe them to be real. In our belief, we give them the power to be real to us.

Thus, the external events by themselves cannot cause us to be unhappy. They are not the cause of our unhappiness. Rather, it is our own belief in the significance of those events that cause us to become unhappy. In Byron Katie's own words, it is our story that causes us unhappiness. Thus she asked, "What would you be without your story?"

Indeed, we would be free without our story.