OUR DAILY BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL
People work daily, struggle to survive, want to exist by any means, but they are not happy.
This question of happiness is “in Chinese”; as the saying goes here. Most serious of all is that people know this. However in the midst of such bitterness, it seems that they do not lose hope of some day achieving happiness, yet without knowing how or in what way.
Poor people! How they suffer! And yet, they want to live, they fear losing life.
If people had understood something of Revolutionary Psychology, possibly they would think differently; but in truth they know nothing. In the midst of their misfortune,
all they want is to survive. There do exist pleasant and very agreeable moments, but that is not happiness; people confuse pleasure with happiness.
PLEASURE OR HAPPINESS?
A “binge”, a “spree”, drunkenness, an orgy is bestial pleasure, but it is not happiness…
On the other hand, there are wholesome festivities without drunkenness, without bestiality,
without alcohol, etc., but this is not happiness either…
Are you a pleasant person? How do you feel when you dance? Are you in love? Do you truly love?
What is it you feel while dancing with the one you adore? Forgive me if I seem a little cruel if I now say to you that this is not happiness either. If you are already old, if you are not attracted by these pleasures, if they leave a sour taste in the mouth, then pardon me if I say to you that you would be different if you were young and full of hopes.
In any case, say what you will, whether you dance or not, are in love or not, have that which is called money or not, you are not happy even though you think the opposite.
THE ENDLESS SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS
One spends one’s life seeking for happiness everywhere and die without having found it.
In Latin America, many are they who have hopes of one day winning the first prize in the lottery.
They believe that thus, they will achieve happiness.Some have in truth even won it, but with this have not yet achieved that much yearned-for happiness.
As a young man, one dreams of the ideal woman, a princess from “One Thousand and One Nights”, someone extraordinary. The crude reality of facts comes later: a wife, little children to support, difficult economic problems, etc.
There is no doubt that as the children grow, the problems also grow, even to the point of becoming impossible…
As the son and daughter grow, clearly the shoes get bigger and bigger,and the price greater.
Also, clothes for them become more and more expensive.
If one has money this is not a problem, but if one does not have it, then it is a serious thing and one suffers horribly.
All of this would be more or less tolerable if one had a good wife, but if the poor man is betrayed, if one is “cuckolded”, then what use is the use to struggle in this way to earn money?
There are extraordinary cases, wonderful women, true companions both in fortune and misfortune. But then, to top it all, the man does not know how to appreciate her and even abandons her for other women who embitter his life. There are many young women who dream of a knight in shining armour. Unfortunately, in truth reality turns in fact very differently and the poor woman ends up marrying a slave driver.
The greatest dream for a woman is to have a wonderful home and to be a mother – “Holy predestination”. However, although the man is very good to her – in itself a difficult thing – finally everything passes. The sons and daughters marry, leave and treat parents badly, and the home breaks up for all time.
All in all, in this cruel world in which we live, there are no happy people… All the poor human beings are unhappy.
In life we have known many asses loaded with money, laden with problems, quarrels of every sort, overburdened with taxes, etc. They are not happy.
Of what use is being wealthy if one does not have good health? Poor rich people! At times they are more unfortunate than any beggar.
IMPERMANENCE OF ALL THINGS
In this life, everything passes; things pass, people, ideas, etc. Those who have money pass and those who do not also pass, and nobody knows authentic happiness.
Many people try to escape from themselves by taking drugs or alcohol. In fact, not only do they fail to escape but rather, what is worse, they remain trapped in the inferno of addiction.
When the addict resolves to change his life, his friends in alcohol, marijuana or LSD etc., disappear as if by magic.
THE CAUSES OF SUFFERING
Fleeing from the “Myself”, from the “I-Myself”; does not achieve happiness. It would be interesting to “take the bull by the horns”, observe the “I”, study it with the purpose of discovering the causes of pain. When one discovers the true causes of such misery and bitterness, it is obvious that something can be done…
If one succeeds to finish with the “Myself”, with “my binges”, with “my addictions”, with “my attachments” which cause such pain in my heart, with my preoccupations which destroy my brains and make me ill, etc, etc., it is clear that then comes that is not of time, that which is beyond the body, beyond attachments and the mind, that which is really unknown to the intellect, and which is called HAPPINESS!.
THE SOLUTION
Unquestionably, whilst the consciousness remains trapped within the “My-Self”, within the “Me-Myself”, in no way will one know legitimate happiness.
Happiness has a flavour that the “Me-Myself”, the “My-Self”, has never ever known.
(The Great Rebellion - Samael Aun Weor)