The Meaning to Life page 5

Happiness has much in common with satisfaction. You can't be truly happy with something. You can only be truly happy.

There can be no object attached. As soon as you attach an object to the happiness, it becomes temporary. Whether you are happy with a person, a possession, an achievement, or anything else, you can be sure that sometime in the future it's happy-inducing qualities will diminish and you will seek to find a replacement. Only by stopping the search for an external object of happiness within. When you can maintain your connection to this happiness continually, it automatically transforms your life into joy. Make it a habit to be happy - it is not as hard as it sounds.

There is a story involving a man talking to his blind friend. They were repeating a conversation they had often. The blind man said, "You keep speaking of this thing called light, but I don't understand it. Can you hand me some light so I can touch it?

His friend replied, "Oh no, you can't touch light."

"Oh, well I will taste it then, " the blind man said.

"No,no,you can't taste the light!"

"Very well then, I will listen to it."

"I'm afraid you can't do that either."

"And I suppose I can't smell it either?"

"That is correct."

"If you will not prove to me it's existence,

I refuse to believe in it!"

"I have heard that there is a wise man visiting our town, let us go and visit him, perhaps he can help you understand..."

So off they went. Immediately upon hearing the problem, the wise man said, "This man will never be able to understand light in his present condition. But it seems that his blindness can be easily healed through a simple operation." So the blind man underwent the operation and was finally able to see the light.

"I was totally disbelieving in the existence of light, and now I can see it with my own eyes!" he exclaimed.

This story can be likened to society's attitude to spirituality. Most people people in our culture are like the blind man, refusing to accept spirituality's existence because it is not directly obvious. Yet if we underwent the operation, that is if we made the effort to actually live according to spiritual principles, then we would finally observe it's constant influence in our lives.

Many people believe that spirituality is only an escape for the weak, for those people who need to hide from the harsh reality of life and suffering, with inevitable death. It is easy to judge the whole question of spiritual existence by the frustration and doubt which has arisen through past experience of organised religion. Whilst innumerable church leaders have displayed hypocrisy and lack of integrity, and the original messages of most religions' founders have been corrupted or superseded over time, it would be unfair to rule our spiritual existence as being entirely false. If wisdom and truth are what you seek, then an open mind, free of preconceived ideas and judgement, will surely be the most beneficial to you.