Happiness Part IV

Don't you see that Happiness is the end of chasing happiness?

An Experience

An experience by one cannot be shared or repeated by another, be it real or otherwise. That is why to seek an experience that another has described is an utter act of futility.

Individuality

Self-Reliance is the only True form of individuality.

Loss of Self

Man does not fear death itself, he fears the loss of self that comes with death. This is the same fear he has while living his current illusion.

Context

It is easy for the unawakened mind to mistake prejudice for context.

Belief

Belief is merely a thought substitute for the Truth. Do not believe anything, instead throw out your beliefs until what is left, if anything, is the unmistakable Truth.

Participation

Participation without observation can bring no man closer to Truth.

Free Will

Free Will is a practical and earthly concept. While living in that state of mind, Free Will will most certainly be your reality.

Dreams

Typical dreams and daily unconsciousness are the same in that you must wake from them to see they are not real.

To be Forgiven

To be forgiven, simply forgive.

Do this, however, truly in your heart and not in the many other false ways you want to forgive.

Patience and Endurance

Patience and endurance are freely and amply provided to those who live in True Faith.

False Emotions

When we wake up, we can see that with a false thought, also comes a false emotion. The Ego attempts to use that emotion as a validation for and proof of the false thought. When the false thought is seen through, however, the ensuing false emotion has no more power.

Ignorance

Ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, it is the possession of false knowledge.

Self Knowledge vs Self Judgment (journal entry)

I need to let go of all ideas of who I am, so the True Self can be free. When I have an expectation of who I am or who I am supposed to be, I merely create an identity by which judgment can be formed. In that case I will always find myself to be more or less than that expectation, creating more false ideas.

When I am free, I am at my very best in all of my endeavors, and a true contributor to the life around me.

Being Nobody

There is a marked difference between being nobody, and being “a” nobody.

Worry

There is no need to worry about what will happen to you.

Idolization

Idolization is merely another form of judgment.

Don't Look Down

Keep your eye on Truth as you walk. Have no goal but to see Truth in everything including your own nature. When you look down to examine how far you’ve gone, you lose sight of what truly matters.

Making Yourself Happy

You cannot make yourself happy, but you can know that you cannot make yourself happy—and that is the beginning of True Happiness.

The Successful Inventor

The successful inventor fails many times before he succeeds. Understanding this is part of the process, he carefully examines each of his failures in order to improve his efficiency.

What is Self-Reliance?

Self-reliance is not the act of using what you already know to get what you want in life.

Self-reliance is taking responsibility to find out what you do not know in order to truly live.

Work Item- De-personalize your faults

De-personalize characteristics that you see as your faults.

When you identify errors or shortcomings, cease to see them as yours. Treat them as being visitors, not residents of the entity that you call YOU. And then...watch how uncomfortable that is for you. This will teach you a valuable lesson.

Trouble (journal entry)

I cannot see the trouble if I am the trouble.

Developing Spiritual Ears

There is a spiritual adage which says, “Let those who have ears hear”

Awareness is the very means by which we develop our spiritual ears.

Self Exploration

For most, the exploration of self ends the moment something unpleasant is discovered. Although searchers thoroughly enjoy the discovery of mysterious and interesting facts about themselves, they recoil at the sight of anything unpleasant. It is too much for them, so they turn back to their old ways—and attempt to make them seem new. If they only knew the freedom that comes from fearless self-knowledge, they would certainly continue on.

Buried Knowledge

The most valuable pieces of knowledge, like precious gems are buried deep beneath the surface, not lying around in plain sight where we insist on looking for them.

Easy vs. Difficult

Learning to live an awakened life is not difficult at all. In fact, nothing could easier or more natural. The difficulty comes only in parting with preferred illusions.

All of Your Questions

Replace all of your questions with just one question:

“Am I awake right now?”

Imperfection

It is only Ego, which demands perfection and immediate results. The True Self has no quarrel with imperfection. It knows that only a better understanding is necessary.

The Idea of Freedom

Man’s idea of freedom is walking from one prison he is tired of into a new one he prefers.

Student & Teacher

Student: How do I become free of Ego?

Teacher: If I tell you, will you follow my advice?

Student: Yes, if it sounds good to me

Teacher: Begin then, by exhausting all ways, which sound good to you.

Complacency

Complacency is not a lack of action; it is the lack of new action.

Getting Real Help

One man chooses his idols and their ways to merely imitate.

Another man will take the ways of his idols and adjust them to suit himself.

Yet another insists on building his own set of ideals to follow.

All have forgotten to look up for Real Help.

Heaviness in Thought

Man is heavy with thought, which weighs him down. He fails to see that lightening his load is the way to move upward.

Intellect

Let intellect be the final recourse of a man who will not see anything higher than his own self.

Overindulgence

Man becomes concerned with overindulgence only when it makes him look bad.

Your Search for Truth II

The search for Truth may take you to a thousand places, but it will eventually lead you home.

Your Search for Truth

The search for Truth is always cheerful and uplifting. When it is frustrating and confusing it is only because you are really searching for something else, hoping it turns out to be Truth.

Calling

Why do you call yourself anything at all- particularly spiritual?

Making Something Happen

If you really want something to happen, stop trying to make things happen.

Immersed in Self (journal entry)

While immersed in self, I have no control whatsoever upon my thoughts, actions or intentions. While apart from self I control my entire world.

Liberty

Truth freely provides the greatest liberty of all, but human beings shun it in favor of their trivial earthy ones.

Rights

You have no right to anything.

And why would you want the right to anything? You already have everything…

My Indentities (Journal Entry)

I can see the flimsy structure of my personal identities in how easily they are shaken.

The Pleasant Faker

The nice faker puts themselves in a most difficult position. They convince themselves that their form of fakery is helpful to the world. The world concurs to the detriment of the faker.

Purpose (journal entry)

It is not necessary for me to know my true purpose in order to fulfill it. It is only necessary that I be awake to see it unfold.

Wanting (journal entry)

Wanting is the source of discontent. Discontent is the source of unhappiness. Unhappiness is the source of wanting.

Only by letting go of wanting can I break the endless cycle.

Who I am (journal entry)

On the question of who I am, the answer is revealed by slowly seeing who I am not.

Waking Up

Waking up is the doorway to everything that matters.

Turmoil's Welcome Hand (journal entry)

When turmoil extends its welcome hand to me, I must refuse the invitation and choose peace of mind instead.

Facts

Man’s partiality is far more persuasive than his facts are true.

Thoughts

There is a tremendous and notable difference between letting your thoughts go and letting go of your thoughts.

Helping Others (journal entry)

Helping others must always be a one-way street.

Happiness Part III

To know happiness, start by letting go of your unhappiness.

False Ideas

The new man sees his false ideas like weeds in a garden. The wise man knows they are more like the blades of grass in peaceful looking meadow.

Lessons Learned (journal entry)

It is no more helpful to memorize my reactions to life than it is for a schoolboy to only memorize his arithmetic. Without an understanding of the principles of the lesson, the lesson can bear no insight. In short, the real lesson has been lost.

Stormy Days

Don’t waste a stormy day wishing the sun were shining; use it to learn about storms.

My Part (journal entry)

My work is to simply be aware and recognize debris that is blocking out the Truth.

Work Item- Learning

Examine how you learn. When you learn something new, examine its origin and epoch. Did the knowledge come by way of another person or by self insight?

please share your experience with this- if this brings good discussion, we'll add more in the future.

Gaining Knowledge

It is entirely possible to drop wrong answers prior to knowing the right ones. In fact, dropping wrong answers leaves welcome room for the right ones.

Counterfeit Ideas (from Essay)

Justification and illusion cannot bring real value to false ideas any more than they can to counterfeit jewels.

Your Chioce

If it is Truth that you want to see, you will see it. If it is contraction and controversy that you want to see, you will see that instead.

Changing

If your intention is to change yourself, you will end up right where you start.

If your intention is true self-knowledge, and you are willing to let go, you will never be the same.

Feelings (journal entry)

I need to be aware that my feelings are the Ego’s way of keeping itself alive. Guilt, anger, and excitement are false validations that I matter, that I am here.

It is a wonderful fact that regardless of those feelings, the True Self never changes.

Achieving Happiness

Happiness is here to be recognized, it does not need to be discovered or achieved.

True Light (journal entry)

The Light is perfect and constant, I need not fool myself into thinking I can make it brighter or better through any action I might take. My only goal is to be carried away from dark places and into the True Light.

Having a Cause

If your cause has a villain, antagonist or an opposing side, it is a faulty cause.

Living Truth

Do you want beautiful Truth which, can actually be lived or exciting lies that can only be thought?

Being Needed

When you truly wake up, you will see that you are not as needed as you think you are, and for the first time that will be a big relief.

Truth

Truth always pleases its loyal seeker.

Giving My Life to Truth (journal entry)

Am I giving my life to Truth or simply trying not to offend it?

Finding a Teacher (journal entry)

To see if a Teacher is sincere, I can simply examine the sincerity of that Teacher's students.

Answers (journal entry)

The fact that I struggle with decisions is proof that I do not have the correct knowledge to solve my problems. This insight can turn me toward the real source of all knowledge.

God's Plan (journal entry)

I used to believe that God had a specific plan for me, which I envisioned was communicated through events and people. I now see that God’s plan is a radiant light that infinitely shines upon all of us. The light is God’s love that continuously directs me toward the right path. The light never ceases to shine; darkness comes only as a result of my shutting out that light in favor of illusions that the Ego prefers.

Expectation (journal entry)

I will suffer disappointment as long as I cling to expectation.

The Value of Pain (journal entry)

Pain and irritation are keys to awakening. When I am in a state of pain, I have before me a direct path to the source of my sleeping nature. If followed, and seen for what it is, it can produce real miracles.

Me and Happiness (journal entry)

When I am truly happy, I can see that I am not a necessary part of that happiness.

False Awareness (journal entry)

Thinking I am aware has nothing at all in common with being aware.

Sacrifice (from Freedom Essay)

If you truly want to sacrifice something, sacrifice having your way- that is a true sacrifice, and one Truth itself will reward.

An Unfamiliar Life (journal entry)

A new life must be unfamiliar, or it would not be new at all.

Perfection (journal entry)

Perfection is not a myth. Truth and Reality are perfect. My present illusions about who I am and what is important are the myth.

Choice (journal entry)

If I am to live a new life, I must first want to see the choices I have before me. Then I can make new choices.

Q & A

Q: When will I see through all of the the pain masquerading as pleasure?

A: Not a moment before you truly want nothing else.

Living in the Moment (journal entry)

The phrase “living in the moment” can easily be misconstrued as permission to dream false dreams about that moment.

My Choice (jornal entry)

If I choose to live in a world with strife, I will have strife.

Self-Reliance (journal entry)

Self-reliance is one of the most basic of all spiritual principles. Not to be confused with stubbornness, it is rather the freedom to discover answers to my questions on my own, through seeing. It is the only way to unlearn my worst habits.

The Train (from meeting 5/13/09)

Our (perceived) troubles are like a train coming down the track. Their course is obvious. They can not be stopped by standing in their way. We can however, step off the track and let them pass on by.

Ground floor of Truth (journal entry)

My ideas and beliefs are merely a safety net for the high wire act I choose to perform. I can instead choose to walk on the ground floor of Truth where such a safety net is unnecessary.

Obedience (journal entry)

Obedience to the Truth is real freedom.

Beliefs (from meeting 4/28/09)

You can have (the comfort of) your belief system, however, in doing so you give up something much greater.

More Freedom (journal entry)

Awareness offers my only chance to truly be free. All sleeping forms of freedom will be shattered upon awakening.

Q & A

Q: How can my own view of myself be so inconsistent and so easily affected by others?

A: Because it is only a set of thoughts. Try to hold any thought for more than a moment- it soon changes. Truth never changes and neither does the True Self.

Finding myself (journal entry)

Trying to find myself is a useless activity. I am right here. The only reason to look elsewhere is to find something that is not myself.

Setting things straight (journal entry)

When all else seems to fail, an awakened conscious will set everything straight.

Coming Home (journal entry)

Beneath all of the illusions that I have of who I am, lies a perfectly content spirit that simply watches as all of the facades pass by. It patiently waits with this message at hand, “when you are tired enough, then you can come back home.”

Change (from meeting 4/1/09)

If I have not changed, it means I have not truly believed in the good of the change, or that I still believe there is a benefit to the false state I am in. When I truly believe in something true, I cannot help but be changed by it.

Honesty (journal entry)

Honesty is state of being who I truly am at any given moment. My state of being affects everything I do, say or think. Dishonest living comes only from a dishonest disposition.

Happiness Part II (journal entry)

I need not wait for happiness.

God (journal entry)

There is never a need to find God. God is the spirit that is within me, which yearns to be recognized at every moment. God is not lost.

Happiness

Nothing makes one happier than to discover what true happiness really is.

Self-Renewal (journal entry)

Self-renewal is a precious process that happens at every moment when I am aware of what is happening around me. This means that instead of applying prejudice and memorized experience to everything I see, I see it new, as it truly is.

Real Change (journal entry)

I am unaware of most of my thoughts and actions- this has to change if I am to become free.

Comparison (journal entry)

It is important for me to understand that judgments I make, seemingly about other people or outside situations, are merely judgments about myself, because they all utilize my idea of me as the basis for the comparison.

Control (journal entry)

One of the great misconceptions I have is that I can control the Ego, including my thoughts and emotions. I cannot do this however, because the mere idea of control is born of the Ego. It is much like trying to fix a broken tool with itself.

Instead I can let go and see that it simply has no control over me, and then I am free.

Dreams

Dreams do not happen only while sleeping. I am dreaming during most of my life. Dreaming is any departure from the present moment and is marked by thoughts of the past or future. It can also be described as the state of thinking about anything I cannot presently experience.

Life Events (journal entry)

Events in my life have the distinct purpose of causing me to grow closer to my own true inner spirit. When I treat these events as personal accomplishments or failures, I have lost an opportunity to understand what life is really all about.

Paying Attention (from Meeting 2/04/09)

When I pay attention to life, I cannot help but to become closer to the Truth. In being closer to the truth, I cannot help but act truthfully.

Patience (journal entry)

Patience is not the virtuous feat of waiting for the future, rather it is the ability to stop acting foolishly now.

Genuine Happiness (journal entry)

Seeing that my human emotions are connected to my idea of happiness, allows me to separate from them and find the genuine article.

Metaphor

Everything is a metaphor.

Vows and Rituals (journal entry)

Quite often I find myself making vows or developing rituals in my life. These are all Ego driven. Even when I make vows of charity or personal improvement, they are quickly shown to be of the Ego when they cannot be maintained. "I" stop when “I” no longer get what “I” expected from them-or I continue them merely out of guilt.

The only worthy vow is that I will make no claim to anything beyond this very moment.

Hope (journal entry)

A beacon of hope is only useful in the darkness of uncertainty.

It becomes unnecessary however, in the bright light of Truth.

My Work (journal Entry)

The Truth will always meet me nearer than the middle.

Endurance (journal entry)

Endurance is courage. Much of the work required to break away from a life of selfish Ego is simply enduring the onslaught of the Ego’s retaliation. The Ego knows that knowledge of the Truth will surely result in its demise.

Humilty Poem

Oh Humility!

You clever ghost

You disappear

When you I boast

But when I see

You can’t be thought

Here at last

When I think you not

Opposites and Comparison (journal entry)

I currently live in a world of opposites and comparison. The only way to bear living that way is to convince myself that I can or will someday compare favorably to my perceived ideal.

When I see the impossibility of that, I will then be ready to live a new way entirely.

Having Everything (from Meeting 1/13/09)

The man who appreciates what he has...has everything.

Ideas (journal entry)

Nothing bothers the True Self within; only the Ego can be bothered, because only the Ego has ideas that the world can reject.

Seeking (journal entry)

What else is worth seeking but the truth?

Perception and Interpretation (Part of Essay)

The Truth never changes when looked upon.

Humble Opinion

There is no such thing as a humble opinion.

Anticipation

To anticipate the future near or far is to eat imaginary fruit or drink imaginary poison. Neither of which will induce their intended effect, but rather the opposite.

Better Solution (journal entry)

The reason I drift from the Truth is simple. It is because at the moment, I believe I have a better solution.