Clinging leads to suffering
but neither the clinging nor the suffering are
events frozen within their own boundaries.
The clinging event evolves sequentially from its causes — including the event of reifying a self in the one clinging and also in the thing being clung.
“Clinging” is merely a word being designated roughly onto a perceived stage in the process that is unfolding.
Likewise, the suffering that arises is causally connected to that initiating process. It is linked like a snow melt is linked to the river it becomes. The fear of loss, the joy of acquisition that diminishes, and all the things that are viewed as the suffering arising from the clinging are all integrally connected.
They are not the separate things (clinging, suffering) we imagine.
Just as there is no actual blue in existence, only the effect of certain light rays on the optical system eventually interpreted by the blind brain, clinging leads to suffering without any sense of blame or recrimination.
You are not being punished. There is no compulsion to avoid clinging, only the recognition of the mechanical fact that might suggest you don’t stick your finger into a live electricity socket.
