How to Achieve Permanent Happiness
Sometimes I feel like a marathon runner who forgot where the finish line is. It’s like blackberries growing on the side of the course distracted me and I decided to veer off to pick them. But then my hands got sticky so I had to find some water to wash them off with. And then while looking for water, I found a lake and decided to take a swim, and by that point the finish line is a distant memory.
Doesn’t life seem like that sometimes? To paraphrase Elbert Hubbard, one damn thing after another? I keep chasing after one thing or another thinking it will make me happy, but it never does. Or I’m happy for about five seconds and then it’s on to the next thing. I am on a search for infinite happiness. I’ve been sampling the goodies Earth has to offer and infinite, unlimited happiness ain’t here because by definition everything on Earth is limited and finite. This is why people turn to spirituality in the first place, we are craving mind-blowing bliss of a permanent nature. How do I find that? Especially when there are so many cool things to savor? It’s easy to get distracted, I mean, just look at those blackberry bushes.
I don’t know why this picture says, “permanent happiness” to me but it does.
Some people say the way to no longer get distracted by the world is to withdraw from it. Go to a cave or a cabin in the woods with no wifi or cellphone service. Meditate all day long and immerse yourself in thinking about God. I don’t know about you, but after a week of that, I start to go stir crazy. In the words of my father, I become “bored out of my gourd.” There are so many cool things in the world! I don’t want to shut myself off from everything and everyone. Doesn’t sound very fun to me.
This dovetails into the post I wrote last week about the the reincarnation merry-go-round. I said the only way to get off the ride is by making everything the divine, because that way we’re like Teflon – nothing sticks to us. We don’t incur the consequences of any actions negative or positive. For instance, when I eat an apple think, “I am eating God in the form of this apple.” That way I’m savoring all that the world has to offer, but I’m not getting caught up in it. I’m not getting distracted or swerving off course from my ultimate goal of merger with the divine.
This concept is what I believe the Bible verse means in 1 John 2:15: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.” What we’re striving for is remembering what the true form and the true source of everything is.
I can count the times I’ve been able to accomplish this task on one hand. It’s hard, yo, but when I’ve been able to feel into it, to really know the apple I’m eating is God in the form of this apple, wow. Incredible. Amazing. What I love about this practice is instead of making bliss and enlightenment a future goal, something that happens to me down the road, I’m doing it now. I’m immersing myself in the cosmic ocean and swimming in it this very moment.
To recap, making everything the divine, or the divine in the form of an object, not only stops the reincarnation cycle, but also ensures I’m still on the path toward my goal AND experiencing bliss along the way. I’d call that a win.
I dream of a world where we’re all able to experience bliss. A world where we’re able to feel everything comes from the divine and is the divine. A world where we make enlightenment a current goal. A world where we chase after what will make us happy permanently.
Another world is not only possible, it’s probable.
Maybe happiness isn’t the goal – but the experience is. Because if everything is God or God is present anywhere and everywhere, then isn’t God in all of our experiences? Perhaps the moment of merger that you’re expecting to experience has already happened; it always is and has been. Again, maybe you’re just speaking to experiencing the *consciousness* of it… But I think perhaps the chase of a feeling, the expectation of a certain feeling while experiencing that merger sort of throws off the reception of that feeling, if it makes any sense.
I think looking at any experience as an end goal or a way of finally achieving something (like getting off of the merry-go-round, so to speak) may also be missing the point. Or at least from my point of view. I was watching Super Soul Sunday one time and Oprah was interviewing an author and he said something that really shook up how I feel about life. He said something to the effect of: “We are here on earth to experience an expansion of love. Love is easy in heaven, where it’s perfect. To be on earth and to love is a higher, deeper experience…” It’s almost as if he expressed the inversion of the two concepts (earth and heaven). We always look at heaven as a place of higher calling or a reward or something but what if it’s the other way around? Can we know and experience the depth of God’s love without challenge? Is it not a privilege to get to do so here in this life? To really know how far love can reach? So I dunno, when I heard that, it kind of got me to thinking that this experience IS the gift and IS the point.
That said, I totally relate to this and the last post. I always want the experience of life without challenge or issues. I want that everlasting happiness. But I don’t know if that is achievable in this world. However, I am learning that PEACE can be everlasting, as it is not limited by feelings or other temporal constraints.
You are quite right Erika. The headline is more of a teaser to lure people in.
God is definitely in all of our experiences as well and the merger has happened in a way, already, but also being in a body keeps us from total merger because by definition, having form means there’s more Prakrti than consciousness. This practice of seeing everything as God is more about suspending my mind so that I’m able to feel into it. I’m couching this as chasing a feeling and an experience because as a recovering addict, that’s my M.O. and what I think many people do as well so I thought it would be relatable, but you what you’re saying is more accurate.
Especially because my spiritual teacher doesn’t believe in heaven or hell so yes, we are here to experience “heaven” on Earth and also it *is* a privilege to be in a human body. That’s something I’m struggling with right now, finding the joy in the mess of where I am right now and not wanting to constantly escape to something better. So the practice I’m writing about is a tool to do that, to experience the love, the grace, the peace even amidst challenge and stress.
And everlasting happiness the way we couch it in our society *isn’t* achievable because we’ll always want something more/different/better.
What we all ultimately want is peace but I’m calling it “happiness.” Basically, what I’m saying is you’re at an advanced level of spirituality but I’m writing for the beginners. 😉