“You want me to play hide and seek with Lemmy? … I can show you my seeking technique, and I can also show you my counting technique. I invented a few new numbers I think you will like.” ~ King Julien (of “Madagascar” fame)

In general, we spend so much time “looking for happiness” that we keep ourselves from ever finding it. We desire pleasure & we yearn for power & we pine for comfort … and we expend enormous amounts of energy not only in striving to attain these things, but also in rationalizing our pursuit of them.

Of course, despite what we have been taught & told — despite our parents telling us that we need to take care of ourselves first, despite our politicians telling us to be “responsible citizens” & despite our culture in general telling us to “work hard” for our own wealth and safety, the fact remains that the more desires we entertain, the more misery we create for ourselves and those around us.

Misery is clearly a direct consequence of our desiring — and yet go on desiring, we do. Like King Julien, we think that once our desires are fulfilled, our miseries will disappear — and so we keep defending & hiding & protecting & accumulating & wanting & striving — all to no productive end; all to our own immense & deep-seated dissatisfaction.

In bodies that are steadily aging towards death and in a world that is always shifting & fading & falling apart, it is literally impossible for ANY desire to ever be steadfastly fulfilled. And, much more importantly, even in those fleeting instants when our wants are seemingly fulfilled, nothing is fulfilled by their fulfillment. For it is desire itself that makes us brittle & hollow, and no amount of “wealth” or “success” or “health” or “glee” can ever hope to fill the massive void of such a raw & self-centered isolation.

Living under this still-popular mindset, no matter how many goals you attain and no matter how many dreams you realize, you will always remain as fundamentally empty as you have always been.

“Masters” and “Wise Ones” from more than few religious traditions & spiritual sects have told us that the solution to this quandry is an elusive state of mind called “desirelessness”; that all we have to do is sit quietly and “still the mind” and “sink into the now” to attain the Bliss that we so desperately seek.

Of course, this is a trap as well; one even more insidious than our more materialistic greeds — for the source of our suffering is not a lack of Inner Peace, but rather our personal need to experience that Peace for ourselves; the source of our deepest pain is not the things we seemingly lack, but rather comes solely from our determination to attain the same.

So how do we remove ourselves from this cycle of despair? How can we leave the life of futile striving and enter the Realm of Bliss-full Living?

I do not know all the ways to do so, and yet there is one Way of which I am aware — one Way I have tested myself for over a decade of my own life — one Way that always brings Peace to moments of discord, always brings Joy to times of sadness & always brings Contentment to instants filled with fear.

And this is the Way of Selfless Dancing … the Way of setting aside our personal regrets & feelings of weakness, in favor of engaging bold acts of courageous caring; … the Way of setting aside our reasonable criticisms of enemies & annoyances, in favor of engaging bold acts of humble forgiveness & radical gratitude; … the Way of setting aside our understandable desires to have “more” & attain “better”, in favor of engaging bold acts of selfless giving; … the Way of setting aside the subtle temptations to live our lives internally; to merely think about being more loving — in favor of getting up and going forth to BE that LOVE.

In closing, it must be clear to you all by now that striving for “happiness” will simply not ever work, and that merely sitting still & “going within” won’t bring you real Joy either …

No, my Friends, when it comes to attaining that ever-elusive state of lasting, deep-seated Bliss, we must eventually choose to make our lives about Giving instead of receiving.

And to make our lives reflections of that pure Giving, we will have to eventually open our eyes, stand our bodies up … and choose to “Move it, Move it”!

Amen … Let it be so.

“I will teach you everything about being a lemur king: the bossing, the bragging — but most of all, the boogieing!” ~ King Julien

(inspired by Osho … & King Julien)

 

Filed under: Wisdoms from the Journey by Scaughdt