Distraction

Illusions of the world always draw more attention than Truth in the world. That is human nature. Truth is eternal, still, never changing. Illusion is movement, drama, change. We are continually drawn to focus on our mind, the source of illusion. Even when we realize we are the peaceful stillness known as Truth, it can be difficult not to become hypnotized by the illusionary content of mind. It’s why we look at the movie not the screen. We listen to the notes, not the rests. We marvel at the stars and planets, not the space.

When a rich man asked Jesus how he could be saved, Jesus told him to give his possessions away. Get rid of the objects. In other words, he would still have the Truth of wealth, he just had to be willing to not be caught up in the illusions of wealth. Money burns. Coins melt. Possessions can be lost or stolen. True wealth can never be taken away but few of us consider True wealth very valuable.

When we are preoccupied by the activity of our mind, we lose who we really are and, in that, we are operating under a kind of hypnosis. We’re in a dreamlike, pretend world where we believe the cartoon actors, props and sets are real. We imagine ourselves to be one of them and forget we are not that but we are so much more. Meditation can often help us focus our attention onto Truth and away from the illusion. Still, it can be a daily practice to not get caught up in the wonderful, delicious, exciting mind stuff.

Finding Happiness

Finding Happiness

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Searching for happiness is like the person looking for their glasses perched on top of their head. (Sounds familiar…) We all look for things in this world to make us happy and we do find many things that bring us a certain amount of temporary happiness. Eventually, though, we discover what looked like a “thing” that was making us happy was actually a “thing” and happiness. The “thing” sometimes seems to stick around a lot longer than the happiness. The new car, new love, new money that we thought was bringing us happiness seems to no longer work. Is happiness temporary while the  “things” are permanent?

Sooner or later we discover the problem is not that happiness is temporary but the projection of happiness onto the “thing” is temporary. Money seems to be the thing making us happy but it isn’t so because we can feel unhappy while we have money. At some point, the “thing” and happiness seem to split and we find ourselves once again in a situation where happiness has eluded us.

You may find it odd for me to say this but happiness is with you eternally because happiness is actually who you really are. You can never be without happiness! All that needs to be done, like the person searching for the pair of glasses on their head, is become aware of this truth.

The source of unhappiness is always the thoughts our mind traps us into believing. The voices from our head say we are not good enough, not talented enough, not blessed enough or not spiritual enough and it is the belief in those thoughts that veil from the awareness of our eternal nature, which is stillness, peacefulness, and happiness. But like a window pane covered in dirt, we cannot see clearly enough past all of the mind’s obstructions to experience this happiness we are.

This is why it often appears the “things” in life will bring us happiness. For a short time, those things bring a certain amount of silence to our mind, which allows an inward glimpse our true nature of happiness. Unfortunately, we soon lose that glimpse when we stay focused on the “things” rather than that which is beholding the “things.”

Looking away from the “things” of this world to our inner being is the path to reconnecting to our true nature of happiness. Once this reconnection is made, we carry it like a lamp to any and all situations or conditions. It illuminates our experience and is never extinguished because it is actually who we are. We are already and always will be the happiness which we have been seeking!