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.