Hi Friends,
"FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS"
I am back.
I am noticing a large number of page views of this blog from across the globe. Looks like the hard reality that I am describing does strike a chord. That is mostly the case. For, when you read stuff like this, you respond not from your head or heart, but from the level of spirit. That helps.
I have promised you the path towards "FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS". But a few things need to be identified, acknowledged and faced before that. Hence those questions that I posed right at the beginning.
The sum total of all those questions is: "ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY?" The idea behind this sweeping question is not to derail your life, or to present a bleak outlook for human existence. Rather, it is the starting point of a wonderful journey with the rewarding experience of a joyful and rich life. It is based on my own experience. My life has not got derailed. Instead, it could have got badly affected, had I not practiced what I am going to share in my subsequent blogs.
If you are wondering why on earth is human existence so painful at its core, I have a whole section explaining that. It will come in a while.
As I have stated before, all it takes is authenticity (truthfulness about yourself) and some courage to be able to go beyond this basic human condition to taste the beautiful life ahead. If you are wondering how much of courage is necessary, let me assure you that you don't need the courage of a scuba diver or a mountaineer. The best example that I can think of is the courage that you mustered to enter the swimming pool for the first time.
How many of us can sense or agree that we are fundamentally unhappy beings?
Even those who consider themselves very happy would admit at times, to a creeping sense of dissatisfaction within.
One does not have to be a pessimist to sense that.
With a certain degree of inner sensitivity, one can sense it.
If you have the courage and honesty to accept that, you have taken the first big step towards a new life. You can be a hardcore optimist, look at the brighter side of things and still discover the basic unease.
You are only being truthful and authentic.
"FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS"
I am back.
I am noticing a large number of page views of this blog from across the globe. Looks like the hard reality that I am describing does strike a chord. That is mostly the case. For, when you read stuff like this, you respond not from your head or heart, but from the level of spirit. That helps.
I have promised you the path towards "FUNDAMENTAL HAPPINESS". But a few things need to be identified, acknowledged and faced before that. Hence those questions that I posed right at the beginning.
The sum total of all those questions is: "ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY?" The idea behind this sweeping question is not to derail your life, or to present a bleak outlook for human existence. Rather, it is the starting point of a wonderful journey with the rewarding experience of a joyful and rich life. It is based on my own experience. My life has not got derailed. Instead, it could have got badly affected, had I not practiced what I am going to share in my subsequent blogs.
If you are wondering why on earth is human existence so painful at its core, I have a whole section explaining that. It will come in a while.
As I have stated before, all it takes is authenticity (truthfulness about yourself) and some courage to be able to go beyond this basic human condition to taste the beautiful life ahead. If you are wondering how much of courage is necessary, let me assure you that you don't need the courage of a scuba diver or a mountaineer. The best example that I can think of is the courage that you mustered to enter the swimming pool for the first time.
How many of us can sense or agree that we are fundamentally unhappy beings?
Even those who consider themselves very happy would admit at times, to a creeping sense of dissatisfaction within.
One does not have to be a pessimist to sense that.
With a certain degree of inner sensitivity, one can sense it.
If you have the courage and honesty to accept that, you have taken the first big step towards a new life. You can be a hardcore optimist, look at the brighter side of things and still discover the basic unease.
You are only being truthful and authentic.
Those who agree that there is general dissatisfaction within might quickly list what is wrong with their circumstances. For them the cause of the dissatisfaction is external.
The basic human condition and the FUNDAMENTAL UNHAPPINESS embedded in it are missed out.
Sensitive and insightful persons are not able to fool themselves about their circumstances, and could get into uncaused depression and run to a psychiatrist. They could lead wretched lives filled with depression, anxiety and despair. Psychiatrists are almost certain to treat them for clinical depression through medication. That such depression and unease could be a manifestation of the fundamental human condition at the level of spirit, and not mind or body, is yet to be fully appreciated by the psychiatric community.
I have myself struggled with similar suffering, felt the uncaused depression, anxiety and despair. I understand the dilemma that many of you face in a similar predicament. That dilemma arises from the interaction between two kinds of dissatisfaction – that from within and from without. One is existential dissatisfaction, the other is circumstantial dissatisfaction. Because they mix up, we are not able to recognize the more basic form of dissatisfaction.
As you read on, you will see that the way out of suffering is to fully face and acknowledge all the pain, no matter whether circumstantial or fundamental. Do not get too much into whether what you are suffering is due to an external cause or it is arising from within, for you will quickly lapse into a mental exercise. Whereas, if you focus only on the pain and deeply feel it without probing it you will learn how to truthfully observe yourself.
Accept that we human beings have a core, which is fundamentally unhappy.
Beneath that is yet another core that is fundamentally happy. We need to reach there.
For those who consider themselves perfectly happy, have patience. Please read on. You will discover a lot of interesting stuff.
I will be back.
Cheers!
Deepak Chatterjee
chatterjee.deepak33@gmail.com
Views are personal
There can be no gainsaying that the basic human condition is one of fundamental unhappiness. At the core of our existence is fundamental unhappiness, BUT beneath that is yet another more basic core which is fundamentally happy, is a matter of discovery. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi used to refer to this more basic core as the "Ground state of all Natural Law." He said, "The ground state of all natural law is a state of its least excitation. It is a field of perfect orderliness, infinite correlation and all possibilities." Surely, the basic core is opposite in nature to the unhappy core whose characteristics are disorderliness, unpredictability, dissatisfaction and chaos. And, the method to reach the ground state or the basic core is as suggested by you sir, to dwell in the unhappy state choicelessly and deeply feel the pain, without probing into it, deying it or fleeing from it.
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