Thank you, Saurabh, for your comment.
May be I should formulate a question as follows: If our thoughts, speech, and actions are based on ‘false assumptions about the world,’ can that approach ever lead to a satisfactory outcome?
- Is there anyone who does not believe the following statement? All living beings (except Noble Persons) have false assumptions about the world. One false assumption is to believe there are colorful things in the world; another would be to believe there are tasty foods, and so on.
- I hope more people will make their thoughts known. I promise to take every comment seriously. I have come to realize that I used to take many things as ‘obvious,’ which may not be obvious to others.
I’m sure everybody in this forum would at the very least say, “Yes. I intellectually understand that the sannas responsible for the cravings I hold are mental interpretations of an experience completely prepackaged and not commensurate with reality.”
Less people, but still a good amount, will append to that, “However, despite me employing this knowledge and Dhamma, despite the fact that I in real time am doing my best to recognize that this sanna is false, that this experience is simply something that my mind is laminating over to try to make it to my satisfaction, I keep giving in and falling for it.”
People with their own addiction problems and especially with those with issues like executive function problems (I myself have ADHD) like me find it extremely tough to lean on this sort of inquiry alone without using supportive techniques, like shaping ones environment to minimize one’s susceptibility to such trappings and weaknesses, and even that does not make it guaranteed to work all the time.
I apologize if me being a bit more personal in writing this is inappropriate, but I hope it gives you a better idea where some people are coming from.