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THE QUEST FOR HAPPINESS

To cultivate happiness, we have to create a conducive conditions.

The two greatest enemies of happiness are uncontrolled desire and attachment.

I am aware that it is really not possible to live without desire and attachment, but it is possible to control them through understanding. It must be understood that what these emotions, in their uncontrolled state produce, is not really happiness but a disturbance in the mental equilibrium which deceives one into thinking that it is happiness.

True happiness arises out of peace which can only come when the mind is at complete rest and has complete equilibrium. Rest doesn't mean inaction. No, it mean total and energetic engagement with the present.

In this state of restfulness and quiescence, the mind cultivates space which absorbs and dissolves our physical sense of time which sends us scurrying around like over anxious ants.

When the mind, which is only a receptacle, develops a sense of timelessness, it nurtures a consciousness which expands into extra dimensions.

The problem is, we are status quoists . We don't want anything or anyone to disturb or change the way things are if it makes us uncomfortable but, to believe that this is at all possible, is rather utopian because our empirical experience tells us something totally different.

It is not the turbulence so much that disturbs and throws our lives out of gear but rather our unwillingness to accept the impermanent nature of life and all this is connected to it.

Life will remain the way it is and has always been. We are bound to accept it. If we don't accept it willingly, it will be cruelly thrust upon us.

This is not just the question of impermanence but uncertainty as well. This doesn't concern our mortality only but everything connected with life - our jobs, our property, our health, the loyalty of people around us, peace in our country, world peace, the state of the environment, threat of war, or war itself, famine, thunderstorms, earthquakes, terrorist attacks etc

While we willingly and joyously accept the things which, we feel, are good, we must also willingly accept the things which impact us negatively.

This the law of life - the dharma which has not only to be accepted but lived in accordance with.

Most people are engaged in a rat race. Without so much as even a modicum of understanding or realisation, they launch into a frenetic search for happiness:

What is life, if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare

William Henry Davies

Of course, everyone is indeed entitled to search for happiness. Happiness is a right, every living being is born with. This is not the question. What is questionable is the method and means by which we try to achieve happiness.

If the means is wrong, the ends will also be wrong. Instead of achieving happiness, we end up achieving disappointment and frustration.

Before we launch into an expedition to happiness, we have to understand the true nature of happiness and its prerequisites.

This we can do by living a quiet, contemplative, watchful life while, at the same time, not neglecting our earthly duties.

Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tym0MObFpTI

greed (uncontrolled desire), ignorance, religion, dogmatism (attachment), capitalism (uncontrolled desire), ignorance again, fear, greed again and many many more. Perhaps most of all, ignorance, greed and capitalism.

Am I to understand, Leonard, that up to the name William Henry Davies was all written by William Henry Davies?
And the four following paragraphs written by you?

An interesting and valuable piece, if philosophically arguable. I have given very little thought in my life to achieving happiness, which is probably a good idea. That which one chases instinctively runs away.

My short time goals have always been manifested in terms of seeking not love but the love interest of the moment or the completion of the poem/film/project in hand.

My long term goals? Never had any. Not even money, fame or success. This is possibly a good or very bad thing. All I can say is that from what I've learned and experienced in 56 years that if I had a chance to do it over I would try to be nicer to people (and possibly make just a little bit more money [grins])

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
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What makes the world interesting is the multiplicity of ideas. I have to compliment you on being a very discerning reader. One can understand that you read patiently and discerningly. This is what poets and artists require. While praise is always makes one feel good, other points of view are equally welcome.

I absolutely agree with you when you say:

"All I can say is that from what I've learned and experienced in 56 years that if I had a chance to do it over I would try to be nicer to people (and possibly make just a little bit more money [grins])"

Absolutely man, I second you on this. I would like exactly the same thing.

Thanks Jess, once again, for the quality time you spend reading and commenting.

Cheers man

Leonard Daranjo

"When the waiting stops, the living begins"

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