The demand for happiness
Earthninja
WandererWest Australia Veteran
Here is a loose translation of a quote I heard.
"What do you mean by happiness? The minute you take a particular sensation, separate yourself from it and say, now I am happy. You have just created the opposite. All sensations are short lived.
The demand for permanence is what keeps us suffering. We want to keep the pleasesant sensation and reject the bad.
All those religious jokers tell us there is a yoga, practice or meditation that will keep us in permanent bliss or peace. But it's the desire for bliss or permanent peace that's creates suffering. Nothing is permanent." - Krishnamurti
I couldn't find the exact quote but that's basically what it was.
I don't even know who the author is but I feel he is bang on the mark with this one.
Everybody is trying trying trying to be happy or at peace. Whether it's drugs, meditations, self help books etc.
I feel this simply perpetuates the problem. That if we try to be happy, then we are saying we are not happy now. And go looking for it.
I guess it comes down to seeing what is really going on. That this moment is it. It's already perfectly complete.
Comments
Wot? Can it be true?
Sounds about right. The original non copyright insight of the Buddha about dukkha seems to say much the same.
Inherent in a condition or state is its temporary nature and therefore cessation and transmogrification [wot a big word].
Now they tell me!
Buddhism that some of us aspire to, also talks of an independent or 'emptying' of these up, downs, detours and choppy wave goodbye scenarios. This understanding with out clinging to the latest raft boat, has many names:
etc.
... and now back to happy time out ...
But it needn't be.
Instead of achieving happiness by acquiring whatever (sensations, job, mate, guitars, etc), what if we achieve happiness by the quest itself? Traveling the path, that is; not ending the travel.
^^^ I feel that applies in the beginning, middle and 'end' of the path. However travelling itself is not the goal, nor is the far shore. The danger (for some) is they conclude the journey/acceptance is the far shore. It is not.
However to be on the path, to be in good company, to be a practitioner, this will make us potentially very happy ... especially when no choc or ice cream is available or appropriate. In other words we will with time, practice and effort become happy little bunnys [optional]. This happiness is dependent on circumstances. People in pain, difficult situations, still in doubt, too poor for refreshments etc may have limitations but even so ... Iz plan!
Yes, though it might be perfectly full of suffering.
I'm happy on/content with this journey towards true happiness (if this makes any 'sense')
I noted from a documentary which said it is ok to want to be happy. But what is wrong is looking for it outside, when it can only be found inside.
How far do you have to travel to be truly happy? And where are you going?
How far is it to where one is right "now" ? That's how far one has to travel...
So in answer to the questions presented by the bundle of vibrating karmic energy who goes by the name @Earthninja
"I" don't know, and nor do "I" really care... I stop often along the way to smell the roses and take in the beautiful scenery , I guess I'm just enjoying the journey... taking the scenic route...
The reason I ask is that many/most people feel that there is something to strive for, enlightenment, retirement, career, spouse, world peace, religion.
Because we feel incomplete now. We are in someway not completely happy with what is now. We are conditioned to feel there is somewhere, some journey, some quest for something.
Yet this something is never found.
Some people are lucky enough to wake up in oneness. They then say, "Oh my god, I was here the whole time!, it was so funny that I was trying to reach nowhere"
What a tragic and beautiful game.
How to dwell in the unfamiliar
without the discipline to sit up (down) straight and relax?
Grow your compassion
Grow your wisdom
Surely the summit is reached
By all who dare climb
@mmo
Inside and outside....are both delusions, born of attachment, whether we praise one as spiritual or deride the other as worldly.
Our experience of suffering can actually be described as the dream that there is an inside and an outside!
All the Buddha exhorted from his followers was to awaken from that dream.
Wanting to be happy is OK as one of the many valid steps towards awakening,
that begins with self interest,
widens as the development of empathy for **all **others,
till finally manifesting as wantless beyond the limitation of that dream.
I feel that all I really have to do now is just follow my heart, I feel that by following my heart, happiness and peace will come to me without me having to search for it.
We are inside out? [lobster feints]
Great post from @how as usual.
You will notice the graduation ...
If you feel you are going elsewhere, think again. You want a better dream? How about Jesus/Allah/Speghetti Monster loves you?
Any dream distraction will waste your precious potential. Find your Heart as @bookworm mentions but try not to think what you will gain. We are here [well I am) to lose ignorance and the distractions of 'my' happiness.
Hope that makes you happy. God is Great.
I just had a small anxiety attack regarding something I had forgotten, you can watch the bodies defences activate and watch the heart rate pick up. It passed relatively quickly but in that moment I didn't try and fight the anxiety, it was just doing it's job after all.
I actually found the experience kind of beautiful in a way. The power of acceptance is incredible.
All we really can do is observe.