What Is Happiness?

What is it that everyone is seeking? Happiness with no sorrow. A continuous happiness with no taint whatsoever of sorrow.~Lester Levenson Happiness is our basic nature. We rarely find it because we are not in touch with our basic nature. Instead we look for happiness everywhere where it doesn't exist. The world equates happiness with fulfilling a desire. Yet every goal achieved and every possession finally owned is a fleeting pleasure. I do appreciate what I have. Yes, I am grateful for it. However, satisfaction and pleasure are not the same as happiness. Again, one can be loved, even adored, and still not be happy. People, for example, considered Elvis Presley adorable. He was beautiful, talented, and kind-hearted. Yet, he, himself, was not happy. What, then, is happiness? Everybody craves it, but few enjoy it. And those that do enjoy it, do so only fleetingly. Seasons pass and what was once considered a source of endless delight fades in its glory. The closest we can get to happiness is through love. Loving stimulates happiness. This happiness arises when we give love. It arises because love, too, is our basic nature. Thus, when we love, we are happy; and we are happy because we are being ourselves, expressing our true nature. Our true nature is happiness. This is the quality of soul. In fact, soul, in its primal aspect, is a consciousness that is blissful, wise, and powerful beyond measure. However, we seldom experience our true nature and seldom get in touch with our souls because the limitations of thought shadow the soul the way clouds hide the sun. It is the task of every person to discover their own soul. This quest is fulfilled through spiritual practices. As we shed our illusions about the nature of the world and our relationship to it, we become more aware of our own luminosity. When we give, love, and share, we touch upon the majesty of our soul. We bring it out into the world. We slip out from behind the veil of mind and show ourselves. One who has stripped away all veneer of thought, all layers of mind, becomes ensouled. When the mind is quiet there is nothing left over but the infinite Self.