Someone reading my book recently asked me the following: “Just how happy do we really want to be? All the knowledge we could ever want is at our fingertips, yet for so many of us, we just don’t seem to get it. I don’t mean this to be as negative as it sounds, it is just so disheartening to see things as they are. It seems that times change, but people don’t. And certainly, I am not saying that I am better at any of this than anyone else.”
I responded in this way: Humbly and respectfully, no doubt this all is hard work for all of us, requiring true effort, to say the least. I believe we should first and foremost accept that there is always room for improvement, through greater and greater insight. So often we get stuck in the notion that we’ve reached a pinnacle and don’t have to try anymore. This may be a VERY important key to true happiness.
I believe substantive insight into these dynamics can be realized by way of lovingly embracing the notion of “acting without acting,” i.e., endeavoring to do the right thing for the right sake — without the need for selfish recognition or hidden agendas. The key is a wonderfully healthful spirit of true honesty — and most importantly, needing less and less to hide behind. It is about learning to better play the part of the unblemished witness to one’s internal and external environments – in a genuinely benevolent and altruistic spirit of deep and abiding true appreciation. It is learning to honestly display oneself with dignity, decency, goodness, and grace — no matter what. It is so very much about realizing that we are all much more alike than we think. It is so very much about supporting others in their healthful goals.
There is a true love beyond, yet inclusive and in splendid harmony with, friendship and romantic love. It is the living embodiment of true forgiveness – forgiveness of ourselves and others, without the dire heaviness of significant co-dependence. It is about alleviating the pernicious weight of hate, greed and ignorance. It is so much about enjoying loving, sparkling, spine-tingling feelings in interaction and harmony with others — the loving, resplendent, quintessential lightness of being.
It is about learning to more skillfully gather an impeccable appreciation of the bright, beautiful light of life.
