Transcendently Immanent
For many, happiness (defined here as the absence of unnecessary psychologically induced fear and sense of lack) is seen as a remote possibility, something to be attained.
The issue becomes one of transcending current circumstances. This is profoundly embedded in our culture. Happiness is often presented as a state of mind or body that must be obtained by religions and in terms of a materialist lifestyle by the society in which we live. However, This singular idea says, "You are unhappy, and you must do this to become happy". All such notions equate happiness with a state which is, in effect, a material experience, and this means we spend our lives trying to attain this state. But this is a fundamental form of materialism.
The materialisation of happiness is a problem, and we cannot solve the materialisation of happiness by making it seem as if it were another material state to be attained. All non-dualist teachings in their heart assert that we are all already happy as we are. What gets us to experience the liberation of this is the understanding of our imminent experience, not the chasing of transcendent experiences.
If it is true that we are already that which we seek, then happiness must be imminently present at this moment. The Buddha once stated that life in this world is like living inside a burning fire. Everything is transient and changing. Where can we find permanent refuge amidst this change? A place within ourselves that is always available, constantly pouring forth life-affirming qualities and a source of inspiration and wisdom, love and beauty, no matter what. This permanence is to be found in our imminent experience, accessible and always available in this moment. There is nothing to be done apart from consciously recognising this imminent experience.
In the end, it is always the direct awakening to what is imminently always present in our experience that leads to us finding the home of permanent peace we all seek. Even if, before such a direct realisation, we pursued practices of some sort.
What is it in our direct experience in this moment that is this permanence? All human beings have only three places to look. Sensations from inside and outside the body. Thoughts that conceptualise experiences. Awareness of sensations and thoughts, which, on closer examination of experience, also turns out to be the source of sensations and thoughts.
Could this simple experience of awareness be the permanent place of peace that all spiritual traditions have led us to? Is it really that simple? The teacher Francis Lucille states that this understanding is too simple for most. In a world of material complexity, it seems certainly the case that people are seeking complex methods to get a place of permanent peace. As we investigate the directly imminent experience of awareness, we soon decide we have found it. But this isn't a matter of faith. It's a matter of experience. This experience is then verified by aligning our behaviour to its peace and seeing the results to our own satisfaction.
Love
Freyja
