Re:
What I've discovered...
If happiness is ANYTHING other than right here and now, a controllable, real, pure state of mind and existence...then happiness isn't ANYTHING.
If you can ACHIEVE happiness, then that state can also be taken away. If it's something you DO NOT have right now, then when you have it, it can be lost. Can it be said to be happiness then, if it's so fleeting, or is it only a momentary rush of endorphins? An addiction to simple, quick fixes?
Happiness, IMO and IMB, is a NATURAL and RIGHT state of existence. It's the ONLY way. It exists REGARDLESS of the external world. Happiness is what you are. It's what you are when a bf/gf cheats, dumps, or leaves you. It's what you are if someone is born or someone dies. It's what you are if someone gets promoted or fired. It's what you are if you're rich or poor (the poor would do well to be positive and happy, as it may attract the riches they desire). Happiness is THIS moment. If it's a goal, it can't be happiness.
What people SEEK is some ecstatic emotional response to EVERYTHING. If people don't control their emotions and only react, do they exist, or are they just a meddly of biomechanical and emotional responses? If you're not PRO-actively engaging your emotions, are you alive, or just reacting?
The problem, or challenge is, there's no search. The mind has set this forth as an automatic trap. Sure, we'll ALWAYS desire...a new car, a bigger house, more money, a better job. So go get them! And delight in their pursuit and the achievement of it, knowing you'll want something bigger ONCE you get that. As long as it seems like this UTOPIAN achievement, it will forever remain beyound your grasp. HOWEVER, if this *goal* is instead just a CHALLENGE you want to conquer, then it merely requires the necessary WILL POWER to see it through, and if you don't get it, you're still ok. You either didn't want it enough or you need to rethink your strategy on getting it.
There's alot of times in the past I'd tied it to big checks coming in, only to find I had a tax bill or car issue come to eradicate the gain. Of course in the long-run, I'd be positive. But to see thousands of dollars go away and to have *that* be my happiness was foolish. Or, I'd tie it to friends and situations, only to find those same friends backstabbed me, moved, or fell out of favor.
Happiness isn't OUT there. The world can't make you happy, yet people PUSH and PUSH against it. If anything, it's more like the matrix feeding you a BONUS feeling of ecstasy, and people get addicted to...hence, the social *****s which exist. I say social *****s, and what I mean to say more deeply are, people who seek social noteriety as the ultimate end of happiness. They're puppets in an ever-changing scene, which puts things in favor one day, and out favor of the next. See: the feminine body.
You'll find alot of helpful literature in Eastern teachings and Buddhist teachings, which emphasize how IMPERMANENT things are in life, and as such, to think happiness exists with IMPERMANENT things is to realize happiness isn't those things, OR, happiness doesn't exist. Which is it?
It's the age old debate of God. What is God? If this world is not permanent and not entirely good or pure or true, and God IS those things, then MAN is flawed in his thinking of God, God is flawed, or this world isn't real AT all. Right? (this isn't a political Or religious discussion, if any seeks to go that route, PM me directly).
One of the hardest things for me is to look at a friend I appreciate dearly, be struck down so hard by a poor relationship or a gf that just dumped him, who's so overwhelmed by the loss and have him not embrace the NOW. Yeah, it sucks, she left, but what will you do? Convince her? Not be yourself? Resort to tactics that don't work, and ones that didn't capture her interest to begin with and think they'll work on the next one? Rush right out to find a replacement only to realize that isn't possible? People sit with blank faces, emotionless because their mind isn't HERE and NOW. And that begs a deeper question...if you're living in the past or future, are you TRULY living, do you exist, or are you just a phantom of your fantasy world?
People tune in to tune out. They want to get lost, or erase something, much like this post hints at, and all you do is erase time of your life to be enjoying the here and now, where you are at.
We are happy at the source and core of who we are. Period. Bottom line. We ALL know we want to experience boundless joy, and we can, and we should, and you will, if you realize it isn't anything GIVEN to you, but something GIVEN to yourself. Everything external is just an addiction and an attachment.
A-Unit
