happiness?

on a list i am apart of, someone asked about happiness....



i feel that it is our external quest for happiness that is where we are falling astray. Where there is happiness, there can only be sadness to come. it is like the pendulum swinging or the principles of duality. I would say that it is not happiness we seek but contentment, completion. and that completion and contentedness comes when we go within and discover that our very core is nothing but peace. Our essential nature is pure love. One with all that is, the manifested world (the visible world around us) and that which is all pervasive and primordial, consciousness. being in touch with this state is being peaceful, happy. where we need nothing else, realizing we are already whole. it is only the illusion that we are separate beings that makes us suffer.


Goose mentioned Eckhart Tolle. In one of his books he talks about paying attention to "the space in between." In between the words, the sounds, the humming machines, the space between two breaths, in those moments..notice the consciousness that exists, that always IS. this practice has helped me get in touch with the place of stillness within and without.


i think, adding to the quote from Barnaby, that everything worthwhile and long-lasting requires both disciplined action and surrendered trust. Action to stop at nothing less than the ultimate truth and trust that whatever is happening to and around us is exactly what we need to experience to psycho-spiritually evolve. the universe gives us exactly what we need to experience and learn.
We want quick-fixes, fast answers and cheap thrills. But are we willing to do the work that affords deep peace. Meditation and self-reflection are timeless paths to that peace. but it takes commitment, dedication and willpower, willingness to let go of habits, willingness and strength to face the ugliest parts of the illusion of separateness..how we strategize, how we lie, how we constantly desire toward the next gratifying experience, how we hide fear, confusion.


we think we found a person that "makes us happy" and then eventually...we are no longer happy with them. what happened? why did they change? eventually we have to face this within ourselves and realize that true lasting happiness comes only from within. and that no one and no experience can make us happy, all the moments and all the people will eventually pass, leaving us to face ourselves again and again, to turn inward and find that therein lies the buried treasure.


it is my experience that happiness naturally arises when our minds are calm and peaceful and when our hearts are open and full of love.


your fellow being on the path of truth and peace,
anitra