Recently a friend wrote the line to me “ I am entirely and stubbornly happy”. I love that. Don’t you? The Buddhists also write about having your karma “cheerfully”. What an idea! We CAN float like a channel buoy, around the sharp edges of pain and disappointments, frustrations and sadness. We can be guided by these markers to inlets, coves and otherwise safe emotional harbors.
How do we do
that? If we stay with the metaphor
of the buoy, we can see they are anchored, deeply through the push of tide and
swell. Their lines drag beyond the
sway of the seaweeds and sand and find purchase in the solid stone of bedrock that
lies beneath the sea.
Spirituality is that
which connects us to a world greater than ourselves. It is a place of bedrock, where we find a less than
ego driven identity, an experience of belonging, of mattering to the whole. I am not the center of the universe,
but a part of something much greater. As the little boy in the movie Hugo says
“There are no spare parts…” We all
matter, but more in a collective way; we are part of Nature, our communities,
our families, either biological or tribal, our church, or place of worship or
work. Our individual experiences, achievements, as well as our losses and
challenges are part of a great being, force or energy.
If we KNOW within
ourselves that there are forces at work that are bigger than us, two things may
occur. One, we can relax a bit,
knowing we don’t have to MANAGE everything, and two, we might play a little and
IMAGINE that life as we know it, although it seems real, is an illusion, like
last nights dream. It too, seemed
quite real, until we awoke.
Many seekers are
looking for the freedom that exists in not being so attached to our everyday
lives and people. We participate,
we enjoy, but we also can stand outside of ourselves and observe our
lives. In Eastern traditions, the
question of “who is doing the observing” becomes a meditation, an act of
letting go. A moment of knowing that
we are not JUST this outer life, that there are illusions within illusions, and
when we see this, we get some relief from our ego self.
If we are able to
achieve this state, even for a brief minute we can grasp the concept of being
“Entirely and stubbornly happy”.
Happiness is our choice. We
can ride the pits and mountains of the ego or we can sail along on the
spiritual path. The default path is to focus only on our own needs,
accomplishments and challenges. It
comes with all the personal attachments.
It is helpful to remember that our level of pain is equal to our level
of attachment. The second path
comes with focus and practice, and it comes with recognition of all these
feelings and experiences, but a deep knowledge of how uplifting and joyful life
can be. Wayne Dwyer was
quoted as saying “We are not physical beings trying to have a spiritual life,
but spiritual beings trying to have a physical life…
Which will you choose
today? Can you for today be
“entirely and stubbornly happy”
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