Happiness is a word that attempts to define the expression of love. Happiness is the expression of love. Happiness is the expression of love and we are that love. Therefore if we do not ‘feel’ happy we are denying our own true self. If our life does not feel whole we may search for another way of life. Our love is reflected back to us in all the things we do not judge. For many this comes when they are exposed to religion or spirituality. When this happens we may devote ourselves to one of these paths for life or for the period that it takes for us to realise our self whole.
The destination of our path is the whole of ‘us’ as we were created. Some confuse the path with the destination. Some confuse the message with the meaning. Remembering the words in a book does mean that we understand. Anyone who tells us the way to happiness has never experienced it. Happiness, peace and joy are the uncontaminated state of mind. We don’t find happiness we realise it. We can make this as easy or as difficult as we choose. If we believe our salvation lies in a specific path then that is the way we must go.
Unless we are ill or attacked the only thing that keeps ‘us’ from feeling our joy is a false ‘me’. There is no unhappy me. We can only feel bad if we judge ‘what is’ to be less than what it should be. This is not acceptance. When we reject ‘what is’ it is because we have defined it according to our perception of it. If we define an experience to be ‘bad’, then we feel bad. If we define an experience to be ‘good’ we feel good. God answers both of those prayers. You can only feel bad if you deny what God created and replace it with what you would have it be.
What is God? God is what lies beyond every single belief used to define what is real and what is possible. Our beliefs created concepts to define ‘possible’, ‘impossible’, ‘unacceptable’, ‘aggressive’, ‘illegal’, ‘disgusting’, ‘blasphemy’, ‘unpatriotic’. This is not an exhaustive list, but it provides an example of the concepts we take as personal beliefs that we use to define our experiences. So any experience that conforms to any of these concepts will result in our ‘feelings’ responding to the ‘concept’ but not the experience. We believe that the concepts we use to define experience are true.
Our mind uses our beliefs to employ our body’s chemistry to remind us of what we chose to believe about our experiences. Those chemical responses are more commonly defined by the words ‘feelings’ and ‘emotions’. Our perceived unhappiness is merely our body’s chemical responses to our experience. Our feelings are automatically responding to our perception. We have created many concepts to define experience. We use these concepts to explain and justify why we hate, dislike, control or attack others. Those concepts are created and sustained by hypothesis.
Concepts are sustained by our belief that the hypothesis is the truth. In European history it was the religious authorities that sought to define reality in religious and moral concepts. Each concept sought to define how to perceive everything in existence and everything in our experience. The method for installing universal perception was the medium of education. Perception is necessary to create and sustain the authorised version of reality. Our perception is controlled by our ‘beliefs’. We can only believe what we do not know.
If we do not acquire knowledge we cannot thrive in a world that demands and rewards education and literacy. If God is what lies beyond all the concepts that attempt to define what is real and what is possible then those concepts cannot be ‘true’. Mankind is trapped within their perception of what their beliefs define to be reality. Our beliefs sustain perception. Our perception replaces the truth of our experience with our perception of it. Our feelings are controlled by our perception of our experiences. Our perception is prejudiced by our beliefs.
When we believe that the concepts we are educated to ‘understand’ are true they become our truth. The two separate concepts of ‘insult’ and ‘compliment’ provide an example of how our feelings can be controlled by our perception. If we perceive an insult towards our ‘self’, ‘family’, ‘religion’ or ‘community’ how do we feel? In contrast to the insult how do we feel when we receive compliments and awards regarding our ‘achievements’ or our ‘contribution’? If our mind is unable to discern the ‘insult’ from the ‘compliment’ our peace of mind cannot be disturbed.
To discern a perceived insult from a perceived compliment requires a discerning mind. How does the mind discern what it defines in conceptual terms? The mind discerns concepts by believing that they exist. It is only what we believe that is causing us to feel what feels ‘bad’ in emotional terms. It is how we perceive an experience that determines what we feel in those experiences. Our judgement is denying what is represented by the words ‘peace’, ‘joy’ and ‘happiness’. Our mission or path may be different but the destination is the same.
Our true paths must lead to the truth of us. This is an internal path. The jihad is an internal struggle. We have projected our divinity into external idols and religious symbols and buildings. Any pilgrimage to a sacred place outside of our self is reflecting the sacred place that is within us. Knowledge is not what we know. What we know is our truth. True knowledge is not words written in a book. True knowledge can only come from experience. To sit at the feet of a guru is to deny our self and to project our divinity into another.
A true prophet ensures the message is not replaced by ‘idolatry’ of the prophet. We cannot define what God created. The guru is on the same path and has not realised. The guru is sustained by his devotees who reflect the guru’s own divinity back to him. The devotee is sustained by his devotion to his guru who merely reflects the devotee’s divinity. Neither realise that both the guru and the devotee are both divine and each assist the other on their path to truth. What is the truth? There is no external abstract truth outside of each one of us. Within each of us is what we are looking for.
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