Stop Suffering by Giving Up Your Attack Thoughts

Our attack thoughts are the mechanism of suffering. Unfortunately, most of us barely know that we have attack thoughts, much less that they cause our suffering [1]. Most of us also do not know that once we let go of our attack thoughts, suffering will automatically cease. Here’s why:

As you will recall in our previous post, The Most Important Ingredient in CBT, Thought is the Operant Factor. Nothing takes place without a thought. Thoughts are not without effects despite the fact that they are without meaning until we give them one [2].

Now, giving meaning to thought is something rather tricky. Often, we engage our thoughts, ruminating and perseverating over them without being conscious of it. As a result, the only time we are likely to become aware that we do this is when we find ourselves feeling drained, stressed, tired, exhausted, sad, upset, anxious, annoyed, enraged, or angry "for no reason.”

This “no reason" is the unconscious engagement of our thoughts. These series of feelings, emotions, moods, or states are caused by the thoughts that have been predominant in our mind, without us being conscious of them [3]. Feelings are the ways we describe our emotions, our different types of moods, and different types of states, and are the single most significant bridge between our internal world and our external world. In other words, if it were not for our feelings, these unconscious thoughts would continue to go on, driving our results and identity, without us having any signals of what may be going on with us [4].

This all helps explain why most of us may believe that everyone holds attack thoughts except ourselves. Attack thoughts are unacceptable to us and incompatible with our ideal self. They make us look “bad.” They are not well viewed by society. And, we work to repress them. Repression is a defense mechanism. It’s unconscious. We are not aware of it. But it is there, having its effects, while our feelings bear witness.

The question now is: What are the effects of these attack thoughts? In addition to feeling them, we also project them. We project them onto others, onto the world, and it does not stop there. Furthermore, when we project our attack thoughts, we are actually attacking through our thoughts. As we attack, we become afraid of being retaliated against, and we then find that we have to defend ourselves, and we defend ourselves by attacking more. The more we attack, the more we think we are being retaliated against, and the more we find our self-defense is justified — and the cycle continues.

Needless to say, this whole process of projection is not without its own effects, including tensions in relationships with self, others, and the whole world. One thing for sure is that however unconscious they may be, attack thoughts remain and will always be the mechanism of suffering.

Once we understand the mechanism of attack thoughts and the process of projection, it becomes evident that the way to cease suffering is to give up our attack thoughts.

Do you not feel empowered already just from having an insightful understanding of the mechanism of suffering? This is just the tip of the iceberg. Raise your own level of consciousness, and then change the world.

Are you ready?