Tuesday, April 4, 2023
A lot of people are exploring the surface-level, “pursuing happiness.” That’s an unfortunate phrase to have been coined by our founding fathers. First off, happiness is way overrated. Why not be elated, blissful, ecstatic, or serene? Those cannot be pursued, however. We’re born with a form of innate curiosity, which is often misinterpreted as discontent with our surface conditions, what lies outside of us. As young people, we set out to “cure” that discontent by the pursuit of goals. At first, you’ll find all sorts of goodies on the outer fringe. But it’s a wasteland, made up of the contents of garage sales. Surface-level exploration bobs on top, where all the “stuff” floats, like pond scum. There you’ll find careers, titles, possessions, relationships, education, money, and so on.
It’s exciting to pursue the outer fringe initially, but that’s where we think we’re going find fulfillment and so-called happiness. The pursuit soon becomes empty, and the discontent grows louder. More outer fringe exploration continues to produce icy results. That pursuit becomes enveloping, covering us in an outer layer of ice and meaninglessness. But it’s all about development, uncovering inner depths, the only place you’ll ever find what you’re looking for – light, life, and warmth.
The discontent of the outer fringe eventually becomes exhausting. Inner development is not part of our common pursuit. 99% of the world spends its time on the outer fringe, cold and dark. The symptoms of an outer fringe dweller: habitual worry and anxiousness; enveloped by possessions, schedules, and the unimportant, like politics; addicted to past and future; half-eyed, daily living; slack-jawed consuming; conforming to the crowd; compulsive behavior like overeating. The cure? A quiet, still journey to within, an exploration of oneness that develops, unfolds, and expresses itself in each human as joy, love, and serenity. That’s not an enveloping pursuit. That’s the loving development of the divine spirit expressing itself as you. Your so-called pursuit is to connect to that divine flow, and remember it never hangs out on the outer fringe. Its aliveness is sustaining you from the warmth within.