Happiness - Its Temporary
Posted: Wednesday, September 02, 2009
by e
Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation
When will you finally be happy? Isn't that what we are all working toward? It's that carrot tied at the end of a stick just out of reach of the donkey as he pulls the cart trying too get closer to the carrot. But every time the donkey moves, the carrot moves, too.
We pull our carts as well. When was the last time you said to yourself, "As soon as . . . . . . . . . happens, I will be happy? And when . . . . .happens, we are happy for a moment, but the happiness is always temporary, as a whole set of new situations confront us. So what happens in those long stretches between the illusive and rare happiness's?
I read an article the other day about a teenager who won several million dollars in the lottery some years back. That should make us happy! But she said that it ruined her life.
"I honestly wish I'd never won the lottery money -- and knowing what I know now I should have just given it all back to them," she told in an interview published in Sunday's News of the World. Rogers said she spent the money on homes for herself, her parents and her grandmother. She bought expensive cars and gifts and lent money to relatives. She spent more than $730,000 on designer clothes, partying and having her breasts augmented, according to the Daily Mail. And she estimates she spent $400,000 on cocaine -- most of which went to a boyfriend.
Many lottery winners and celebrities seem to hit that wall where the pleasures of the world begin to ring untrue and their promises turn out to be lies. The last days of Michael Jackson's life sounded like a nightmare - unable to sleep without a cocktail of drugs that eventually killed him. Yet he appeared to have it all.
How much will make us happy? Or does the true happiness, the lasting happiness, have nothing to do with toys or relationships? When were you last contented? Not "happy" but contented; peaceful, no worries or concerns? No ambitions or aggressive feelings of drive and goal objectives? Does this kind of contentment have anything to do with achievements or possessions?
An easy mind is difficult to find these days. People don't talk about these things. This is not carped about on TV. There is no profit from a contented mind. A mind has to be dissatisfied in order for the hucksters to make money off of us. With a contented mind, we can live wherever we find ourselves and completely at ease. (This is what the Buddhist monk alluded to; Possessionless, homeless, and content with solitude, aloneness, poverty, and seclusion).
How many would think that true contentment would be found in these things that offer no apparent pleasure? Although we have sought pleasure all of our lives and have found not one pleasure that sustains us, we cannot see the obvious; seek pleasure and find pain. Michael Jackson perhaps began to understand this when he had nowhere to turn, and so did the teenage lottery winner.
And yet, as a meditation teacher, when people ask me what they will "get" from meditation, and I reply, "nothing," I always get the blank stare. It's not easy to understand that true contentment comes from a mind not caught up in endless thought, plans and ambitions, but comes from a mind empty of all that.
An empty mind has the connotation of ignorance and stupidity, but the opposite is true. Only when the mind is emptied of all it's programming and habit patterns is there the possibility of true contentment, which is the ultimate freedom, the ultimate creativity.
This Article has been viewed 1,338 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (7 total)Yes you are correct I'm afraid. "ignorance is bliss" This is why it is human nature to medicate ones self after acquiring a certain amount of time on this Earth. Meditation is the same practice. Letting your mind take a rest from the knowledge gained. Knowledge is pain, but that what is so beautiful about being a human...to learn to balance happiness with pain is the goal of every spiritual master. Without the pain we would no longer be human. We would not appreciate life, and would take it for granted. The only lasting pleasure in life is from mastering ones emotions and accepting your pain.Good article my friend....Thank you! Your comment is full of wisdom, and I value your feedback.
Best......anagarika eddie
When I think about people I know that seem happy, they are usually the people who lead pretty simple lives, who enjoy simple pleasures. Your article is bang on! I wish I could learn to empty my mind at night, maybe then I would get some sleep.Hi Brianna,
You can begin by closely watching your breath. But like learning any new skill, it takes some practice. Once you get it down, however, it can be your refuge when you can't sleep, or when you are stressed.
Best......anagarika eddie
Thanks for writing this e,It seems to me that when I've pursued happiness as an end in itself, it's impossible to find. But when I set out to follow Jesus' teachings and serve others and not worry about what my "rights" were or what I was entitled to; when my goal is to do what's placed in front of me - low and behold - it made me happy!"Bang on!" (as Brianna Popsickle would say!) Look for my article "Evolution of Religion - The Six Steps" which I am working on, and which addresses some of this.Best......e
I'm having trouble understanding the appeal of being empty. It seems like it should make sense but, to me anyway, it doesn't.
How can a mind be "empty?" Even a glass full of water, when turned upside down, is now full of air.I'm just slow on the uptake sometimes.Hi Ken, good to hear from you. Some things the mind cannot explain or understand but can experience - ineffable I think they call it. Empty mind, or Shunyata in Zen, is one of them. Actually, everything, in truth, in material existence is empty. Our illusions see them as real and full. "12 Metaphysical Questions and Answers" is one of my articles about these kinds of things, but there are others. Let me know if you have more questions.Best.......e
To me happiness isn't personal, I'm happy when others around me are happy. When I'm sad it may be because my friend (s) are sad. Does this make sense to you e?Sympathetic joy and sadness makes a lot of sense. It's a sign of selflessness.Thanks, Dave.Metta.........e
I see it differently...there is nothing wrong with happiness. Happiness for me has nothing to do with what I have (or don't have). Instead it is because of what I do, what I see, and what great pleasure I find just in living. If man had no ambitions, no goals, and no drive, we would still be living in the stone age.I am and always have been a happy person. I enjoy waking up every morning as well as going to sleep every night; and, my mind is never empty. Instead it is brimming.Maybe it is, in part, because I breathe which is so incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. It allows me sleep well every night.Sadly, too many people seek happiness in pleasures that are fleeting. True happiness can only come from within.Thanks for an interesting take.Nancy
Hi Nancy, thank you so much for taking time to read the article and comment. I appreciate your input very much.
Rejoicing in another’s happiness and success is called in Pali - Mudita or sympathetic joy. This is one of the four Buddhist Brahma Viharas, so I am sincerely happy that you are a happy person all the time! The other three Buddhist Brahma Viharas are: Metta (loving kindness), Karuna (compassion), and Upekkha (equanimity or non judgmentalism). These are universal attributes of truly spiritual people regardless of beliefs or religious preferences, and characteristics that would make the world a truly better place.
I must admit I am saddened when I hear that half the children in the world go to bed hungry every night. I‘m especially saddened when I know that it is not only a lack of food, and assistance from rich countries, but lack of compassion, coupled with individual greed of the leaders of those countries, only looking out for their own happiness and wealth and not seeing the suffering of others. Only an expanded consciousness of these leaders would ever make meaningful changes where they could see past themselves.
I can only hope in some small way that my life’s work of teaching meditation to folks will help expand an understanding of life so that we can see past ourselves and our own comfort zones of happiness, and consider the suffering of others. Until we see our own suffering, how can we see how others suffer? Mother Teresa, the saint that she was, understood this, and she understood the four Brahma Viharas when she dedicated her life, giving up much personal happiness and security to serve the destitute children in disease ridden areas of India.
Metta (lovingkindness!)……………e
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.