The Eight Worldly Concerns: Overcoming the Obstacles to Genuine Happiness
Week Four - Pleasure & Pain
David Oromith · 80 minutes · recorded October 20, 2026
David explains that we are not trying to get rid of pleasure and pain but to find a middle way, without clinging to pleasure or fighting pain. He gives a two-part test for attachment: does it disrupt the balance of our mind and distort our awareness of reality? He suggests noticing it with mindfulness, without acting on it, and remembering that pleasure and pain both change. In the analytical meditation we recall times of clinging to pleasure and resisting pain, and look for the distortion.
Anger and aversion Attachment and craving Genuine happiness and wellbeing Impermanence The eight worldly concerns Analytical meditation