Everything we do, we do for the sake of happiness. The reason we do so is that happiness is our very nature, and when we seem to be cut off from our nature, the one thing we desire is happiness. Desire is therefore a sacred pathway, the pull of the infinite drawing us back to itself.
This week, we are exploring from the section break on page 186 through to the section break on page 189. From that first intuition as it is felt in the body long before it is understood by the mind, we then turn to a single image that shows how it is that consciousness comes to live inside what it has itself imagined.*
*(The page numbers indicated here each week refer to the original publication of the physical book – they may vary slightly from more recent versions, owing to the publisher’s design modifications.)
The Great Search
In theory, only one such experience should be required to make it clear that the cause of the heart’s wound is not the absence of any object, state or relationship but rather the forgetting, ignoring or overlooking of our essential nature of ever-present and unlimited awareness, whose nature is peace and happiness itself.
Everybody loves happiness above all else.
Behind almost everything we do lies the desire for happiness. Believing it to reside in objects, substances, activities, states of mind and relationships, we embark on a great search in the world.
Every time your desire is fulfilled, you do indeed experience happiness, and it is for this reason that the belief that happiness comes from the content of experience is so persuasive.
However, this is a misunderstanding. Happiness is your nature, and is present, just as the blue sky is always present behind the clouds. When the clouds part, the blue sky is revealed. Likewise, when a desire is fulfilled, the seeking that veiled your true nature subsides, and you experience your innate happiness.
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