Thread by @KapilGuptaMD

THE PROBLEM OF LIFE

Man is afraid of death

However, his greatest problem is life.

For death, having inflicted its wound, is finished with a man

While life returns to re-offend.

The greatest problem of life is the desire to be happy

This is the carrot that the mind dangles in front of the human

For the whole of his life.

All precepts, potions, and prescriptions serve this one need

It is the foundation upon which all advice is based

It is the bedrock upon which all books, films, songs, religions, and spiritualities are founded.

Even the Dalai Lama says, "Every person wants to be happy"

It seems he has fallen for the same trap as all the rest.

The "happiest" man in all the world

Is the one who has no need for happiness.

The Truth is often ironic

And the truth about happiness is this:

Where there is no happiness

There can be no sadness.

Where there is no joy

There can be no suffering.

The greatest suffering is the hankering after happiness

For it is a chase that will never end.

Where there is happiness

Sadness is guaranteed to follow.

Where there is joy

Suffering is guaranteed to follow.

One cannot have the "good" without the "bad"

Thus, the wise man drops both.

There is not a single chase that leads to fruition

For that which a man chases, forever runs from him.

Wisdom lies not in seeking positivity, but Permanence.

The only human who can be permanently "happy"

Is the one who cares not how he feels.

It has been said that the Way is easy for the one who has no preferences.

This is indeed a Truth.

But not having preferences has little to do with being invested in passivity

And more to do with being invested in understanding the way things are.

Should a serious man objectively examine his life

He will discover a startling thing.

He will discover that in every single moment of every day of his life, he is on a chase toward happiness

In every breath, every word, every interaction, and every decision.

If a man has been chasing for years and years

Wisdom states that he should learn that if something is this elusive

Then either the thing does not exist

Or he lacks understanding.

Nature does not work hard

Yet it has everything.

If man works hard for decades

Yet does not have it

This means that nature knows something that he does not.

It would do little for a man to tell him to stop chasing happiness

But in giving him an opportunity to open his eyes

Perhaps he will come to See.

Namaste.