How to Transform a Shock into Ecstasy?

It is possible when you create a chain of thoughts to end in pleasant emotion

Photo by Brett Jordan from Pexels

We are pure consciousness. There is nothing in the world that has the capability of giving us a shock. It is always a false belief that causes a person to perceive some event as a shock. If a person experiences an event that creates shock within him then he needs to do some inner work to transform that shocking event into something positive. There is a well-defined path that I follow to achieve this transformation.

Understanding shocking event

An event causes shock within a person mainly because of the following reasons:

• Attachment: If a person is attached to someone and a certain unwanted act was done by that person then it may cause shock. This happens because the mind reaches a confused state — on one hand, he wants to stay with the other person due to his attachment while on the other hand, the unwanted act creates animosity against that person.

Example: Ram admired his father since his childhood. He was too attached to him. Ram worked in another country and fell in love with a girl there. Ram was Indian while the girl was white. When Ram told his father about his desire to move in with the girl, his father reprimanded him saying it is against Indian culture. This caused shock in Ram’s mind. On one hand, he still wants to have a relationship with his father while on the other hand, he has feelings of animosity against him. This was the core reason behind his experiencing the scolding as a shocking event.

• Reminds past fearful incidents: Any stimulus that a person experience takes his train of thoughts to various related incidents from the past. In case those incidents were fearful in nature then the person experiences discomfort.

Example: Shyam always had issues with studying. He somehow managed to graduate and after many rejections got a job in a decent company. One day his boss reprimanded him and called him a failure. This caused shock in Shyam. The word ‘failure’ reminded him of all the fearful and depressing moments in his life when he failed in a job interview. The horrendous moment of giving interviews started flashing in his mind thus making him feel anxious.

How to transform?

Shocking events create a perfect ground over which inner transformation can be achieved. Normally the fearful events from the past do not come to the surface and always lie deep within the subconscious. But it is needless to say even when they are submerged deep within the subconscious, they still cause uncomfortable feelings to the person. So it is always better to dig deeper and get in touch with those events. Thereafter transforming those events into something positive can bring about a state of ecstasy within a person.

Example: In the above example of Ram who felt shocked when his father didn’t approve of him moving together with a girl whom he loved, Ram has to put his father come down from the pedestal and consider him as any other person with some imperfections. It is difficult to do so as till then Ram had considered him his ideal person but I believe most people in this world have some or the other imperfections. Ram also realized that his dependence on his father was also because he was not able to study on his own and the desire to impress his father gave him the motivation. This dependence caused him to not let go of the attachment so easily. He later worked on all the issues surrounding his inability to study and eventually didn’t need his father’s role in giving him a reason to study. Eventually, he broke the attachment but still had a love for his father. He later moved in with his lover and still maintained a cordial relationship with his father.

Another example: When Shyam was reprimanded by his boss, his chain of thoughts took him to all the unpleasant feelings from his past. Shyam was advised by his friend Krishna to use it as a stepping stone to bring about complete inner transformation. Shyam performed catharsis and got rid of all unpleasant feelings from his psyche. Then he was presented with the belief that the English language that is used for studying is foreign to their culture and hence he always felt uncomfortable reading English books. He had an evolved understanding of life and hence transformed that belief into a positive belief. He internalized the fact that hatred is actually a sign of weakness and that he should have a love for every language including English. This transformation of belief caused him to be comfortable reading any books and eventually, his issues in getting a job were also subverted. Now whenever Shyam thinks about the incident of his boss reprimanding him, his chain of thoughts takes him to the feeling of ecstasy when he overcame the subconscious blockage of not being able to study. Thus, the shocking event transformed into an event that causes happiness in Shyam.

Conclusion

Shocking events are actually a boon for the person. It creates the necessary environment where inner transformation can be achieved easily. The ability to transform the reason that caused the person to experience the event as a shocking event into something positive can create a chain of thoughts that ultimately ends on a positive note thus transforming the shock into ecstasy. Good luck to everyone in traversing this path of total freedom from the impact of shocking events.