Once there was a beggar begging in the street. A stranger is passing from there. Beggar stopped him and said, "Will you please spare me some change". I don't have any change, stranger replied. Out of curiosity, stranger asked the beggar, "What is inside the box upon which you are sitting". I am living here from the last thirty years but I have never checked it, beggar replied. Stranger told him to open and check what's inside it. As beggar opened it, He feels elated by seeing the box full of gold.
The moral of this parable is we are seeking happiness in the outer world. Instead of looking inside we keep on looking outside for happiness and the result turns out to be frustration. From now onward, let's change the frame of reference from outside to inside and connect to the divine reality present in each of us.
Yuval Noah Harrari in Sapiens explains about the Romanticism and Consumerism: .
Romanticism tells us that in order to make the most of our human potential we must have as many different experiences as we can. We must open ourselves to wide spectrum of emotions, we must sample various kinds of relationships; we must try different cuisines, we must learn to appreciate different kinds of music. One of the best way to do all this is to break free from our mental routines, leave behind our family setting, and go traveling in different islands, where we can experience the culture, the smells, the tastes and norms of other people. We hear again and again how a new experience opened my eyes and changed my life.
Consumerism tells us that in order to be happy we must consume as many products and services as possible. If we feel that something is missing or not quite right, then we probably need to buy a product(a car, new clothes, organic food) or a service (housekeeping, relationship therapy, yoga classes). Every television commercial is another little legend about how consuming some product or service will make life better.
In contemporary world we have mixed the concepts of romanticism and consumerism. Their marriage has given birth to the infinite market of experiences.
Romanticism or Consumerism will cure the symptoms of a disease but it won't cure the root cause of a disease. Suppose you bought a new car or went for a holiday trip in New Zealand. You have moved yourself completely into a new environment. Your mind is not used to to this environment. It gives you pleasure until your mind is not adapted to it. After that you will start feeling the same as you were feeling before the consumption of product. The problem is not in the objects. Problem lies in us. Rather than changing ourselves we keep on changing objects. We have become so much disconnected with ourselves that we even forgot to realize the divine which exists in all of us. Happiness is not in the objects. It lies in realizing the divinity within ourselves.
To understand misery we need to understand the difference between work and play.
Work is end oriented. It is a mean to achieve some goal. In itself there is no happiness in it. When we achieve the goal then we become happy. Work is quite related to desire. Desire means working in the present to achieve something in future. It is a kind of contract we have made with ourselves to make us unhappy until the goal is achieved.
On the contrary, Play is not goal oriented or it is the goal in itself. We are playing because we enjoy it. Happiness exists in the play. It is not beyond it. Means and goal become one with each other. There is no past or future in play. We are simply living in the moment. There is no concept of desire in play because nothing is there in the future that has to be achieved.
Children are the most happiest beings I have ever seen in my life. They are living in the moment that's why they are happy. There doesn't exist any gap between means and goals for them.
Everyone has to do some action to fulfill the basic needs of their life. A person X is working for the sake of money. He is not enjoying instead he hates the kind of work he is doing. Source is poisoned and whatever comes out of it is also poisoned. Hence suffering, anguish and hatred will ensue. On the contrary, person Y is working not for the sake of money but for his enjoyment. It might be the case he is earning less than X but he is more happier than him. Source is beautiful and the outcome is also beautiful.
We can't know the thing in itself. Whatever we know is just the projection of our mind. Immanuel Kant
We perceive reality through our minds. There is not one universe in this world. Number of universes is equivalent to the number of minds exist in this world. Heaven or hell doesn't exist in outer world. Heaven or Hell are the symbolic concepts indicating the quality of our mind.
Enlightenment means living in the present fully aware. An enlightened being is at ease with himself because his mind is in bliss. Wherever he goes he carries the bliss with himself. If you have come in contact with such person you will also start feeling happiness, joy in yourself.
Why are human beings miserable?
No one choose suffering still we suffer. This is the paradox. Choose happiness you'll fall in suffering. Try to escape from suffering and more is invited. So, ultimate law is: Whatever you choose opposite will be our fate. Choose happiness and suffering will ensue. Don't choose at all and nothing happens to us.
What is Bliss?
Don't choose, be a witness. No clinging for happiness, no hankering for happiness and no escape from suffering also. Remain in yourself centered, rooted. Bliss is not opposite of suffering. It's a quality which you can bring even to suffering.
The superior man doesn't waste himself on what is distant, on what is absent. He stands in the here and now, in the real situation. Conficus
Suffering happens to Buddha also but he knows the art of enjoying it. How to enjoy it? Remain in yourself. Suffering comes and goes like a breathing coming in and going out. Don't develop an aversion to suffering. Suffering gives us depth. A man who remains in his comfort, who hasn't suffered will not have any tone and remained on the surface. The heart is created through suffering. Through pain we evolve. Suffering is the path. It purifies us, makes us alert, more aware. The more we are aware and less we are desire filled. If we are perfectly aware no desire happens and meditation means nothing else but perfect awareness.
Eckhart Tolle in Power of Now explains How to deal with pain:
Focus attention on the feeling inside you. Know that it is the pain-body. Accept that it is there. Don't think about it. Don't let the feeling turn into thinking. Don't judge or analyze. Don't make an identity for yourself out of it. Stay present, and continue to be the observer of what is happening inside you. Become aware of not only the emotional pain but also of "the one who observes," the silent watcher. This is the power of the now, the power of your own conscious presence. Then see what happens.
Everyone in this world can be classified into three categories:
Abnormal Person: The one who takes everything but never gives anything.
Normal Person: The one who takes and gives in equal proportion.
Super-normal Person: The one who gives but never takes anything.
Blaise Pascal on Living in the present:
Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we never be so.
Conclusion: Happiness exists within our self. It can't exist in objects. Engage in play not in work. Try to be in the present, fully aware. Thoughts come and go like a breath. Don't identify yourself with them. Be aware of the observer who is observing the thoughts. If you can't become Super-normal at least be normal!
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