HAPPINESS.

[Writing about these subjects is tricky: if too much is said, it cannot be absorbed. If too little is said, then it is not satisfying. So take it that digestion will take place over many articles!]

Being happy.

That is our natural state…happiness! Happiness here means content and knowing, although that is not so easy in this modern speedy world. So how do we find this natural state of happiness? We find it by degrees of understanding. First, we have to know or trust that IT IS our natural state. From that, a sense of inner joy is discovered that no outside force can disturb.

Sounds good?

There are two aspects to ‘knowing’ happiness. The first aspect is knowing our true nature, which is the awareness of awareness of the emptiness of emptiness. Emptiness and Awareness are two qualities of our true being. Emptiness means uncontaminated – pure, like just seeing or reflecting something in an unexpected moment and being fully aware of that moment with no mental comments. Awareness means cognisant, having a knowing quality.

However, we ignore these qualities of our being and replace them with an acquired mental image of who we are – and the world around us compounds this problem! The second aspect is accepting life as it comes along.

This is so very important!

Our present was created by our past, and our future will be created by our present.  Because of the fixated ideas we hold about ourselves, the same reactions take place, and so we find ourselves going round in circles. Something has to change!

Being practical.

In every situation with which we make a ‘contact’, we have a choice either to react or recognise. If we just re-act, we are doing precisely that: re-acting the part. If we recognise the reactive response (which comes from our past), we can pause, and that creates a space, in which to see what is going on! If we react, we produce karma (the result of causes and effects, which are like filters held in the mind). If we pause and recognise, no karma is produced…simple.

We have just changed our future! When, through meditation or analysis, we recognise the two qualities of Empty Awareness, situations will still arise due to our karma, which still has to be exhausted.

Some days are good. Some days are bad.  Some days are clear. Some days are cloudy.  Some days are exiting. Somedays are dull.

Whatever arises is merely an appearance from the past…they all come to pass! Empty Awareness is always present,whatever occurs: however, it is usually unnoticed.

So what is happiness?

Merely Knowing Empty Awareness, everything that happens is part of our karmic script, which has to be played out. Knowing this brings a sense of relief. Our karmic script is our tool for mingling the meditation experience with daily life (this is known as conduct), and for finding our way back to our original being. We may wish for things to be better than they are, but that is only wishful thinking, this is mainly due to the claims and projections of those around us – and the media –we believe that happiness relies on conditions. That is conditional happiness.

The opposite of this is unconditional happiness, which is a happiness that is already present and does not rely on conditions. When we know happiness, we will know love, because we will recognise what is missing in others.

All the best,

Tony