Way to Happiness, Spirituality and Conditioning of Mind, Tips and Advice

Way to Happiness Through Spirituality and Cultivation of the Mind.

Ever think of getting up in the morning after a good night’s sleep no night mares about tomorrow, the things to do, so much more left to be done, what the doc said about dear Sarina or the project where will it go, the millions that could be lost in the stock market? If you could do that you are the rich man of the world spiritually rich and to know what life is all about. Many say we come alone into the world and we go back alone too, but it is these encumbrances around us that seem to make us sleepless and worried. I wish happiness is pill that I could buy at the pharmacy and gush it down the gut with some water. No it is not, that too needs an effort to get.

Spirituality and Happiness are interrelated intertwined like the climber that is clinging to the trunk of the plant. Without the climber the tree trunk is mere chunk of wood in which the juices flow and the climber the support of the tree to finally bring light to its leaves and see the world. Spirituality helps us get in touch with the real inner person and

prevents from being washed away by ambition and greed.

Happiness is what we imagine. It has no boundaries; the boundaries are defined by us. But to define the boundaries we must understand what happiness is.

For understanding the interdependence of spirituality and happiness we must first prepare a state of mind that has a vision of what is the happiness that we are seeking and why there appear to be endless gaps between what we want and what we have.

Matthieu Ricard, molecular biologist turned Buddhist monk, combines Buddhist wisdom with scientific research to realize that, "Happiness is not a mere pleasurable feeling, a fleeting emotion, or a mood, but an optimal state of being. It is a way of interpreting the world. While it may be difficult to change the world, it is always possible to change the way we look at it." (Happiness, Little Brown, 2007).

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

- Abraham Lincoln

A critical look at the two sayings reveals that to be happy or unhappy is in our hands.

Happiness is what we see and what make up our mind to be.

We seem to be defaulting here. Entrapped in the claws of materialism, we misunderstood the purpose of our birth, its transient nature, and we define for ourselves the goals that are neither achievable, nor relevant, nor purposeful, nor can offer us a direction to achieve the primary purpose of journey; to be contented and help those in need as well.

Life is a complex mix of expectations, some our own, some of those around us, relations, ambiguities, disappointments, hope and frustrations sprinkled with a bit of happiness here and there, that stands like the shining dew drop under the sun on the lotus leaf. As you try to hold it rolls and vanishes into the place where it came from.

Being born as human we must accept that we have some obligations. If we disown our obligations we have no right to be humans. The person who planted the tree has an obligation to the plant. The plant has an obligation in return. The parents have an obligation to the help children become independent and live on their own. Children have an obligation to the parents when they get older. When you marry you make a commit to meet these obligations to the spouse and the children. The conflict with obligations creates a sense of slavery and binding that further deteriorates into unhappiness. It is equally important to accept these obligations without expecting rewards. Rewards come on their own when obligations and duties are rendered, expectation of rewards can lead to disappointment and unhappiness.

Life’s routines make it difficult for us to reflect and accept these obligations without which the human race has no meaning. For this we need time and a vehicle to reflect to compromise and cooperate with life. The sooner we accept these and make these a part of life the smoother the way to happiness. We need a time and a vehicle to reflect and, compromise to accept the obligations of being born thus inclined to accept and cooperate with life. This is where spirituality comes in. Spirituality is merely a vehicle to reach this state of mind en route to happiness; religions are simply the brands. Spirituality is generic and prefers to stay independent of the brands and their own values imposed on it.

Once we understand the spirituality which bears no religious roots, and its role in way to happiness, we begin to appreciate the interdependence of spirituality and happiness, we will be in a better position for cultivating the mind, shed the negatives and deal with the emotional expressions that result from frustrations of failure. We then begin to cultivate our mind to create positive thought process.

Cultivate the Mind towards positive thought process

I must admit what I write here has a strong resemblance to Duncan McColl’s ideas on mind power. Duncan McColl a precision therapist,  in turn derives these from modern and ancient teachings. He recommends self hypnosis, but my thoughts are merely on the basic premises of mind cultivation and I make no recommendation of self or other hypnosis here. My emphasis is on spirituality as way to happiness but not spirituality per se.

1. Free the mind the belief from the thought that our failures are because of someone else and accept that success and failure are ones own responsibility. Accept that our own ignorance contributes to our failure. Believe that you can overcome the ignorance. You have created positive energy and the way to happiness is open.

2 Judging other people is easier than judging ourselves. The more divided we are in ourselves the more harshly we judge others. The Hermetic theory of polarity suggests that all polarities are identical in identical in nature but vary in degrees. The mental polarities success-failure, secure and insecure, glad and sad are on the line that is infinite. There is a little of each in the other. Hermetists apply the law of polarity to transmute all negatives to positive. We can too and we should if we want to be on way to happiness.

3 Opt out of unduly defending against or justifying against the unduly aggressive persons who engage in ridicule and feel trapped. Spirituality can be used here to develop the tolerance to find the way to a happiness

4 Don’t let the subconscious get out of harmony with the ongoing flows of life by habitually losing the conscious thought due to regrets for the past and concerns for the future. Good health means all the elements acting in harmony. Let the harmony exist and avoid destructive illusions. If an accident happened accept that there is a reason for it. Accidents happen unexpectedly but not without reason. If ill health occurred accept there is a reason and do something and the best you can about it, even if it is genetic.

5 Don’t waste valuable time of the precious life by emanating anger, hate or resentment. Forgiveness is an essential step in life Get in touch with fear, jealousy and envy and cast them out. The only way to win an argument is to avoid it. Until such time the consciousness is fully restored let the mantra of “peace” be in your mind. This can help in happiness.

6 Defining wealth differently helps happiness. Concept of limitation exists in mind. Accept what life has to offer. Everything that one gains in one form of wealth they sacrifice in other form and the peace of mind too.

7 In marriage the spouse is not the second best in public or private. The children “are not cups to be filled but lamps to be lit”. Let your love be an inspiration to the other.

8 J Krishnamurti suggests that the more powerful the man, the more intellectually conditioned the more difficult it gets to convince him of the true understanding of life. One can be lead only to the edge of the chasm that separates conditioning and consciousness. There is no bridge. If they willingly drop the conditioning they can make the jump. A wonderful thought that I have appreciated after belabored thinking and meditation on light that is accepted in all forms of religion as life giving energy.

We can thus see that in its final form happiness is a state of mind and spirituality may help us drop the conditioning intertwining spirituality and the way to happiness