The Vital Difference Between Internal & External Stress:

The Vital Difference Between Internal & External Stress:
Internal & external sourced stresses are not the same but there is a vital difference.
Internal stress is worse, intractable (insoluble) whilst external stress is isolable and can be immediately and effectively addressed. If blaring from the TV stresses you, it is a simple and immediate expedient to switch off the sound (although greedy masochists subject themselves to the onslaught and have nobody to blame if they become stressed). If your own harsh, dragging nagging mental voice stresses you, you cannot switch it off, you cannot tell yourself to shut up (not if you are a sinner who does not listen to your body’s protests and the body therefore does not listen to your protests either).

In the past you had no choice but to put up with intractable self torment but now it is possible to put away self generated stress by recognizing and exiting acting. Still, as I see it, even those who call themselves good, who have heard me, decline to exit acting, cannot shed their pretense and are still quietly acting, only turning down the volume of their acting. They may rue in regret & torment even for an eternity. It is true, heaven can wait (for you) but hell is waiting. Jesus said maidens who came to meet the groom without bringing oil will not be admitted even if they then brought oil. Many are so mesmerized by their whispered, hushed, anxious, dulcet toned, stretched syllabled concern for others to believe they are good when they are manipulative, dishing out sugar laced poison. This is monumental delusion.

Internal stress is created by one’s own acting (forcefully going against oneself to exaggerate and fake creating stress) and the stressful constant need to control or restrain one’s harmful acting.

External stress results from the impact of others’ harsh acting.

Provided one is not an actor (masochistically creating unnecessary stress for oneself), one will be united, not conflicted in countering external stress with simple but effective measures like seclusion (turning off the sound of the TV, going to a quiet place) or through meditation to develop a serene, clear mental state that can filter out the harshness from others’ acting and can be maintained even when interacting with actors.
Internal stress created by one’s own acting creates insoluble conflict in oneself. One part is going against oneself creating stress and the other part is trying to grapple with the stress constantly churning up, there can only be disarray; it is a doomed, maddening, vexatious cause trying to eliminate stress whilst one keeps acting. One can never run away from internally generated stress because one cannot run away from oneself.
Internal stress is two fold, first by one’s acting (one’s false charming smiles, forcefully stretched syllables and explosive speech/actions) mandates second further stress to control in vain that stressful incessant self abuse. Internal stress is insoluble, makes one powerless or checkmated and leads to restlessness, despair (depression), mad impulses and thoughts.
The actor is in big trouble because he is besieged on two fronts (internal & external stress) with his hands tied because he is opposing himself and as troubles inevitably pile up, he is headed for breakdown (mania, madness, depression). The non actor is not in big trouble but has manageable troubles because his troubles are only external stress, can be isolated and because he is no masochist, he does not open his door to welcome external stress. He stops external stress at his doorstep.
Fickleness Is Not Innocent But Self Serving:
Fickleness is seldom if ever innocent or an unintended random hazard of feeble human minds but it is the consequence of systemic or global pretense and usually has furtively suppressed self-serving motive the perpetrator refuses to see and the sympathetic audience turns a blind eye to.

Many ordinary people habitually change their views or utterances even to the diametric opposite according to their perception of shifts in prevailing winds.
Quote: “Life (before becoming paraplegic) used to be a rat race. Everything was about being better than everyone else, and I was never contented with what I had.
Comment: Her motive in saying that may be that there are unexpected benefits of being a paraplegic (no more rat races); it is not all bad so it is not that bad being paraplegic. If this is her intention, she did not say this, but was hinting or alluding to, a sin.
Quote: “Before becoming paralyzed, I was riding high on life and having the most wonderful time. So when it happened, I went bonkers, big-time.”
Comment: Now her sentiment may have changed and depressed by awareness of her present plight, she may be driven to wishfully brag how wonderful life (falsely) used to be for her.
It is because people never mean what they say or say what they mean that they end up saying things that contradict. If you meant what you said that life was a rat race then, how is it possible for you to turn around and say you were having a most wonderful time then?
Even she herself may be unaware or only vaguely aware of her motives in contradicting herself so swiftly in the same interview, so well and emotionally forceful is her denial of her deceitful intentions. Even though she is unaware of her intentions (she is in effect contradicting herself), the conflict or tension is still experienced viscerally in her but it is now disembodied; because she refuses to see that she is dishonest or lying but she adamantly believes she is such a genuine person, she now suffers blindly, clueless because she cannot or refuses to see the connection between the tension she must experience and her fickle contradictory utterances aimed at impressing others.
Whatever people say or utter, even though they appear mad or puzzling, actually have understandable motive but because the motive is unsavory or embarrassing, actors have learnt so well so forcefully to repress awareness of their true motive and instead tell themselves and others they have no motives or a fabricated motive.

This face is not expressionless but there is an expression or fabrication and it is intended to convey a message. Actors’ faces are never free of expressions, they are never passively impassive but even their impassivity is forced, has force or sternness in it.
The expression is a conflict generating cross that can be described as a half smile and half falsely humble anxious grimace together with a dazed or ‘controlled restlessness’ stare. He is trying to convey an anxious, harmless, humble concern and friendliness but beneath the veneer lurks toughness and long unforgiving fangs.
Many people not only act, they often try to act two different or opposite false emotions eg anger with laughter or they try to express acted friendliness by smiling and at the same time try to express pain by grimacing because they think if they express pain for you, it means they feel for you. They are setting themselves up for madness, irresolvable conflict because it is maddening to act happy and sad at the same time.

Those who understand acting know that her smile is not natural but forced; she is going against herself to please others. Hence the accompanying mental state of this smile is not happiness as foolish people believe but stress, conflict, anxiety and nervousness that must be hidden from view. Even though she may be unaware she is going herself by smiling, because it is going against herself, it must generate stress and conflict that lead to tension, restlessness, anxiety and nervousness that again must be painfully hidden from view otherwise it would mar her immaculately acted deceitful charm.
ACTING IS LIKE A MESMERIZING SPELL THAT ACTORS CANNOT OR STRUGGLE TO SEE THROUGH OR AWAKE FROM. THERE ARE TOTALLY BLIND AND EVIL ACTORS WHO HAVE NO CAPACITY TO SEE THAT THEY ARE ONLY ACTORS. THERE ARE THOSE WITH SOME CONSCIENCE AND CONCERN, SOME DISCERNMENT BUT EVEN THEY HAVE DIFFICULTY DISCERNING THE TRUE EXTENT OF THEIR AND OTHERS’ ACTING IN ORDER FOR THEM TO EXIT ACTING’S MESMERIZING SPELL.
JUST AS TENNIS PLAYERS GET BETTER AND BETTER THE MORE TENNIS THEY PLAY BUT ULTIMATELY THEY WILL ALL DEGENERATE AS THEY BECOME DECREPIT WITH POOR EYESIGHT, SLOWER RESPONSES AND RICKETY FRAMES HARBORING OLD INJURIES, THE ACTOR IS COMPLACENT AS HIS ACTING PROWESS IMPROVES EARLY IN HIS ACTING CAREER AND HE THINKS HE WILL ALWAYS BE GOOD & MAINTAIN CONTROL OVER HIS SOPHISTICATED ACTING WHEN HIS ACTING PROWESS WILL ULTIMATELY PEAK AND THEN DECLINE INEXORABLY TOWARDS MAD DISINTEGRATION.
FURTHER, THE LONGER HE PERSISTS IN ACTING AND THE BETTER HE IMPROVES HIS ACTING, THE MORE DIFFICULT IT BECOMES FOR HIM TO EXIT ACTING TO SAFETY BECAUSE HE HAS NOW STRAYED VERY FAR AND HE IS DETAINED BY STRONG, AUTOMATIC ACTING FORCES. THOUGH HE MIGHT SMUGLY CONGRATULATE HIMSELF, HE HAS UNWITTINGLY SET A BETTER & STRONGER TRAP OF TORMENT FOR HIMSELF.
IN ORDER TO BE AN ACCOMPLISHED ACTOR, YOU HAVE TO DEVOTE YOURSELF OR GIVE YOURSELF UP ENTIRELY TO ACTING. IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO JUST STRESSFULLY FORCE YOURSELF TO ACT BUT YOU MUST ACT WITH GREAT CONVICTION AND GRIM WILL NO MATTER THE TORMENT YOU EXPERIENCE THAT YOU DO NOT ACT, ARE NOT ACTING BECAUSE ACTING IS FAKING AND FALSELY EXAGGERATING AND TO BE CONSCIOUS YOU ARE ACTING IS TO BE CONSCIOUS THAT YOU ARE A FAKE AROUSING SHAME & DOUBT THAT WILL UNDERMINE ACTING CONFIDENCE. IT IS TESTIMONY TO HOW WELL ACTORS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED THIS TASK OF DENIAL THAT THEY ARE NO LONGER CONSCIOUS THEY ARE ACTING, THEY ARE BEING FALSE BUT INSTEAD THEY FIRMLY BELIEVE THEY ARE BEING TRUE, THEIR (ACTED) CONDUCT IS GOOD FOR THEMSELVES AND OTHERS.
IF EVERYONE INCLUDING YOURSELF IS FAKING AND ACTING, IT PAYS AND FACILITATES GETTING ALONG TO TURN ONE OR BOTH EYES BLIND TO THE DECEIT GOING ALL AROUND YOU OTHERWISE IT MAY MAKE GETTING ALONG WITH OTHERS EMBARASSING AND MORE CONFRONTATIONAL. FROM A VERY EARLY AGE PEOPLE HAVE LEARNT TO PRETEND, TO LOOK DOWN OR LOOK AWAY, TO FORCE THEMSELVES TO ACCEPT OR PRETEND AS REALISTIC AS POSSIBLE TO ACCEPT DECEIT AND HURT FROM OTHERS JUST TO GET ALONG SUCH THAT THEY ARE NOW BLIND, THEIR ABILITY TO SEE TRUTH HAS ATROPHIED TO A FEEBLE OR DIM LEVEL. WHENEVER PEOPLE INTERACT THEY ARE NOT MERELY EXAGGERATING BUT THEY ARE BEING FALSELY NICE, FAKING AND PUTTING ON AN ELABORATE DECEITFUL SHOW. ONLY A FOOL IS BLIND ENOUGH TO BELIEVE PEOPLE ARE TRUE TO EACH OTHER.
EVERYONE IN THIS WORLD HAS EXPERIENCED HURT AND BETRAYAL FROM OTHERS THAT ENRAGED THEM MAKING THEM SWEAR REVENGE, TO GET EVEN AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO GET EVEN THAN TO PUNISH OTHERS BY DECEIVING OTHERS BY PUTTING ON A SHOW. TRUTH CANNOT HURT OR BETRAY OTHERS, ONLY THOSE WHO ARE FALSE AND THEIR CHICANERY EXPOSED ARE HURT BY TRUTH. IT IS BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE UNFORGIVING, EVEN THOUGH THEIR INITIAL RAGE HAS SUBSIDED, THEY STILL HARBOR REVENGE THAT DRIVES THEM AT COST OF PERSONAL STRESS TO DISH DECEITFUL ACTING TO OTHERS AS THEY ARE DISHED THE SAME. NOT TO ACT, NOT TO BE NICE IS TO BE TRUE, TO FORGIVE OTHERS AND BECAUSE ORDINARY PEOPLE CANNOT FORGIVE OTHERS, THEY ENGAGE IN TIT FOR TAT, YOU ACT IN THAT WAY, I ACT IN THIS WAY.
ORDINARY PEOPLE’S FACES ARE LIKE ACTIVE LIVING MASKS AND IF THAT MASK HIDES LONG SHARP FANGS, YOU CANNOT DROP THAT MASK BUT MUST KEEP THAT MASK ON AT ALL COST. IF THE FANGS ARE SHORT AND NOT SO SHARP THEN YOU MIGHT PERMIT YOUR MASK TO DROP.
ANOTHER FACTOR THAT MAINTAINS ACTING IS BRAINWASHING. MANY PEOPLE ARE BRAINWASHED TO BELIEVE THAT UNLESS THEY APPLY FORCE, EFFORT TO WHAT THEY SPEAK OR DO, UNLESS THEY CONVEY ANXIETY AND PAIN WHEN THEY SPEAK OR DO ANYTHING, THEY ARE NOT SINCERE. THEY MUST ALWAYS CONVINCE OTHERS OF THEIR SINCERITY AND END UP ALWAYS A FAKE OR FABRICATOR. THEY ARE BLIND OR REFUSE TO SEE THAT THE MORE FORCEFUL OR ANXIOUS OR PAINED THEY SPEAK, THE MORE STRESS THEY IMPART ON THEMSELVES AND THE LISTENER, WITH KARMA ATTACHED, NOT MERIT. AS SOON AS ANYONE IMPARTS FORCE, EFFORT & PAIN INTO WHATEVER THEY SAY OR DO, THEY HAVE FALLEN INTO ACTING.
SEEING HOW DIFFICULT IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE IT IS FOR ACTORS TO EXIT ACTING, DO I ENVY ACTORS? NOT A BIT BECAUSE I AM SERENELY CALM, SELF ASSURED THAT I COULD NEVER EXPERIENCE WHEN I WAS AN AMATEUR ACTOR AND KNOW PROFESSIONAL ACTORS ARE ALL SUFFERING, EVEN TORMENTED, THEIR MINDS ALREADY PERMANENTLY WARPED AND DEGRADED BY ACTING.
Jesus said there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Unless you believe beings in heaven are fakers and exaggerators as they are on earth, the implication of that statement is that repenting is a significant rarity; it is very hard for beings to repent otherwise why would angels be so joyful if sinners are repenting themselves easily all the time?
Because evil & falsehood always leads to terrible suffering that lasts even for an eon, it is foolishness & the inability to see how one’s suffering is linked to one’s acting that one is maintained in falsehood and evil. That it is possible for beings to repent implies that nobody is forever evil. The Buddha’s deputy Ven Moggalana was reputed to be Satan or Mara for one eon and hence no matter how evil or foolish an evil person, he is still your brother in existence which is why Jesus said turn your other cheek if your brother wants to slap you.
The Great Benefit Of Stopping Acting:
When one truly puts a stop to acting, one not only enjoys the benefit of putting down forever the terrible burden of acting but one will then be better able to cope with the bombardment of acting from others. The impact of stressful acting by others on him is attenuated compared to those who are actors.
When one stops acting, one stops stressfully going against oneself all the time and stops the constant stressful controlling of the going against oneself. One stops walking the tightrope between going against oneself and the need to forcefully restrain oneself.
Further, when one stops harming oneself, one will also not permit oneself to be harmed by others. It is because actors themselves harm themselves that they also close one or both eyes to permit others to harm them. Hence when one stops acting, stops harming oneself, one will be sensitive to stress and will immediately trace the stress one experiences to its source. When one recognizes that the stress one experiences is exogenous, eg due to someone’s provocative smiling or his stretched syllables, one learns not to embrace it but keep it at arm’s length. Because an actor cannot see through his own acting, he is also blind to the harmful acting of others and foolishly embraces and upholds others, opens his heart to sugar laced poison from others. A person who has stopped acting recognizes acting in whatever guise and keeps the door to his heart shut to such poison.
Because a person who does not act experiences considerably less stress, conflict and tension in him, his mind is calm and clear and he resides on a higher mental plane that makes him more immune to external stress. It is as if he resides upstairs where he is buffered from trouble calling whereas actors all reside downstairs and when trouble comes looking for them, they cannot help getting entangled.
The Buddha Did Not Intervene:
The Buddha did not intervene by himself to teach the world but he was beseeched by a Brahma on behalf of the world to teach the lost world.
Ayacana Sutta:The Request
When the Blessed One was newly Self-awakened, staying at Uruvela on the bank of the Nerañjara River, at the foot of the Goatherd's Banyan Tree. Then, this line of thinking arose in his awareness: "This Dhamma that I have attained is deep, hard to see, hard to realize, peaceful, beyond the scope of conjecture, to-be-experienced by the wise. But this generation delights in attachment, is excited & enjoys attachment. For a generation delighting in, excited by, enjoying attachment, this/that conditionality and dependent co-arising are hard to see. And if I were to teach the Dhamma and they would not understand me, that would be tiresome for me."
Just then these verses, unspoken in the past occurred to the Blessed One:
Enough now with teaching
what only with difficulty I reached.
This Dhamma is not easily realized by those overcome with aversion & passion.
What is abstruse, subtle, deep, hard to see,
going against the flow --
those delighting in passion,
cloaked in the mass of darkness, won't see.
Then Brahma Sahampati, having known with his own awareness the thinking in the Blessed One's awareness, thought: "The world is lost. The mind of the Rightly Self-awakened One inclines to dwelling at ease, not to teaching the Dhamma." Then, Brahma Sahampati appeared in front the Blessed One. He knelt down saluted the Blessed One with his hands before his heart, and said to him: "Lord, let the Blessed One teach the Dhamma. There are beings with little dust in their eyes who are falling away because they do not hear the Dhamma. There will be those who will understand the Dhamma."
In the past there appeared among the Magadhans
an impure Dhamma devised by the stained.
Throw open the door to the Deathless.
Let them hear the Dhamma realized by the Stainless One.
Just as one standing on a rocky crag
might see people all around below,
So, O wise one, with all-around vision,
ascend the palace fashioned of the Dhamma.
Free from sorrow, behold the people
submerged in sorrow, oppressed by birth & aging.
Rise up, hero, victor in battle.
O Teacher, wander without debt in the world.
Teach the Dhamma, O Blessed One:
There will be those who will understand.
Then the Blessed One, having understood Brahma's invitation, out of compassion for beings, surveyed the world with the eye of an Awakened One. As he did so, he saw beings with little dust in their eyes and those with much, those with keen faculties and those with dull, those with good attributes and those with bad, those easy to teach and those hard, some of them seeing disgrace and danger in the other world.
Having seen this, he answered Brahma Sahampati in verse:
Open are the doors to the Deathless
to those with ears.
Let them show their conviction.
Perceiving trouble, O Brahma,
I did not tell people the refined, sublime Dhamma.
A key message of Jesus is that there will be a close of the age (there will be the start of another new age, endlessly) and it shouldn’t be too long after (the master is delayed) he departed and he implied he could stay on permanently but “it is to your advantage that he should go otherwise the counselor will not come”.
The Buddha spoke of many eons of cosmic expansions and contractions (an eon being so long a transmigrating being will accumulated a pile of skeletons as high as a mountain) implied that he could stay on until the end of the age if he was beseeched but Ananda did not beseech him to stay and he made up his mind to pass away in three months’ time.
And the Blessed One said: "Whosoever, Ananda, has developed, practiced, employed, strengthened, maintained, scrutinized, and brought to perfection the four constituents of psychic power could, if he so desired, remain throughout a world-period or until the end of it. [21] The Tathagata, Ananda, has done so. Therefore the Tathagata could, if he so desired, remain throughout a world-period or until the end of it." (The Buddha is saying this world is not immutable but there are world periods just as Jesus said there will be a close of the Age)
4. But the Venerable Ananda was unable to grasp the plain suggestion, the significant prompting, given by the Blessed One. As though his mind was influenced by Mara, [22] he did not beseech the Blessed One: "May the Blessed One remain, O Lord. May the Happy One remain, O Lord, throughout the world-period, for the welfare and happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, well being, and happiness of gods and men."
5. And when for a second and a third time the Blessed One repeated his words, the Venerable Ananda remained silent.
6. Then the Blessed One said to the Venerable Ananda: "Go now, Ananda, and do as seems fit to you."
"Even so, O Lord." And the Venerable Ananda, rising from his seat, respectfully saluted the Blessed One, and keeping his right side towards him, took his seat under a tree some distance away.