This one distinguishes an ancient text,
a recent author, or a testimony.
This font signals a higher entity,
andthis one a recently deceased person.
« We have the right to happiness.
We just have to seek it, starting by running away from troubles and problems.
« happiness is the goal of life. »
educate the mind to preserve itself from suffering. »
The first goal of our coming to Earth is not to be happy there.
« The souls that inhabit our bodies did not come down to have a good time. »
« There is only one innate error, which is to believe that we exist to be happy. »
Contributions by Arthur Schopenhauer on the theme of:LIFE, Suffering or DEATH
« The great error of men is to believe that they must have happiness on earth. »
« The purpose of our life during our passage on Earth, then after our death, in the various worlds of the beyond, is an increasingly complete realization of our being. »
« Every soul must become aware of itself little by little. In evolution, the mineral becomes plant, the plant becomes animal and the animal will become human. This is the great chain of life. »
« The important thing for you is to evolve in order to modify your vibrational state.
The Earth is a domain that allows the soul to modify its vibrations through more or less difficult life experiences. »
continued...
« The thing that gives you pleasure today will make you suffer tomorrow. Or the pleasure will disappear and its absence will make you suffer. »
« Make no mistake about it, happiness is not the goal to be achieved (it will only be a consequence); the real goal is love. »
« The huts are absolutely poor. They don't contain anything. It's simple: nothing! The mother of one of the small porters explains to us that her husband cannot find a job. What does she live on? She goes to the market every day at closing time and picks up the vegetables and fruits that no one wants but that feed her family. This story seems to amuse her a lot, she jokes about it with her friends and converses with them in incessant bursts of laughter! This joy in the midst of this destitution is astounding! Where does man find his happiness?
This same question, I asked myself later in Europe, where I often discover a climate of gloom, a basic dissatisfaction. I have the impression that individuals are entangled in another kind of slavery. Desires that are impossible to control, constantly resurgent, a panting race without remission stifle in its germ the pleasure of living, of living the moment: joy of being, of breathing, of walking, of thinking... We are perhaps touching here on a essential divergences: the African, closer to his childhood, remains immersed in the present which he simply enjoys. Tomorrow does not interest him. The European, always in search of evolution, is turned towards the future, which he wants indefinitely better. »
Contributions by Sister Emmanuelle on the theme of:The WAY, Relationships, LIFE, Suffering or DEATH
are we on earth to be happy or not?
The illusory
« I do not ask first whether or not man will be happy, but which man will be happy. And no matter the opulence of sedentary sated, like cattle in the barn. »
A Rabbi: « What do they want from me? Why are they harassing me? How can I make them understand that my task is not to fill their stomachs and soothe their sleep? »
« Certainly, the desire to be happy is legitimate. But what is happiness and how is it acquired? We receive according to what we give. And the best gift you can give is the gift of yourself. To those whom he still sees as children, the master gives. To those who want to become an adult, the master asks. « Give me your despair, your hatred, your lies, your fears, your pride, your pain. Unload your burden on me and I will relieve you. » But still it is necessary that the disciple agrees to discharge his burden. For a long time he clings to it with all his strength, he has become(he identified with) his burden. Because this burden has the trick of also presenting itself under fascinating aspects: success, pleasure, superiority over others, brilliant intelligence, love. People love me, I am loved. Who I ? The ego. But it is not the ego of the disciple that the master loves, loves with an infinite, incomprehensible, indescribable love. This is the disciple's truth(it is God through this man, the man who seeks) . It is out of love for this truth that the master shows towards the ego unlimited patience, unfailing delicacy, severity without weakness. »
« You have a bad habit of constantly comparing your lives to each other, and always believing that the neighbor is luckier than you. Your scales are wrong because you are all at different stages of evolution
« The purpose of our life during our passage on Earth, then after our death, in the various worlds of the beyond, is an increasingly complete realization of our being. »
« Every soul must become aware of itself little by little. In evolution, the mineral becomes plant, the plant becomes animal and the animal will become human. This is the great chain of life. »
« The important thing for you is to evolve in order to modify your vibrational state.
The Earth is a domain that allows the soul to modify its vibrations through more or less difficult life experiences. »
continued...
« Everyone wants everything to happen in perfect conformity with their ego : to be the center of the world and to encounter only the yes, the yes, always the yes. When we always have to deal with the no. And that the little child learns one day or another. We want a colleague to smile at us, he does not smile at us. We want a woman to love us, she doesn't love us. We want a raise and we don't get it. And that deeply we do not accept. We don't give the other permission to be themselves, to be different, to be like us an ego, with their desires and fears. This attitude is characteristic of the small child who conceives only his needs and their satisfaction: only me. Normal human growth should be: me only, then: me and others, and finally: others only. The child is made to receive, the adult to give. But today how many children become adults? More and more, the world is populated by spoiled, frustrated, revolted and frightened children. »
« I call growth this process, this movement towards “self-expansion” which is the fundamental human reaction to life. »
The task of the animal is centered on itself.
He only enjoys what is his.
Its air, its food, its child.
If he is well, he rejoices in everything.
He lives in a circle called: himself. It's(must be) just the opposite in humans.
Your joy is(must be) what you radiate beyond the circle. The animal is hungry, it is satiated and that is enough.
Man is filled, he radiates, and that is never enough.
« In your rantings, you believe that happiness is something to be pursued and fought for before you capture it. »
« who filled his jug and locked it in his cupboard because he loved the sound of fountains.»
« To build the orange tree I use fertilizer and manure and pickaxe in the ground and I also cut through the branches. And so rises a tree capable of bearing flowers. I, the gardener, turn over the earth without worrying about flowers or happiness, because for there to be a flowering tree, there must first be a tree. To be a happy man, you must first be a man
are we on earth to be happy or not?
The illusory
« Happiness is a state of consciousness. »[a reading by Edgar Cayce]
« Do not ask me to conquer happiness for my people, I will sit down not knowing where to run.
Just ask me to build them a soul where such a fire can burn. »
« A thought comes to me:
"How simple happiness is!"»
« Happiness is an emotion of the soul, not of the body. »
« Liberation is the extinction of desires, in other words, finding joy and fulfillment within oneself instead of seeking them outside. It is the end of all suffering, of all pain. But how to get there? First be convinced that everything I have just said is true. »
« Integral happiness could be given to you if you knew how to take it where it exists. Poor sinners, joy is in your head and you want it in your hands! »
« True happiness depends only on us. Let's transform the way we look at the world and others. »
« We experience here (to the sky ) this incomparable happiness of finding happiness only in that of others. When we reach this state – which is a reward – we remember with shame, regret and pity, the selfish contentment we sought on earth. »
« When you give, you receive. I now know that the rabbi believed in that hackneyed phrase. It was when he could help someone that he was truly happiest. »
« The secret of happiness is love for others.
Love transforms life; what was Earth becomes Heaven. »
« Think so as not to hurt. Create happiness, peace, joy around you. Always be joyful, happy when you have the opportunity; love life, God gave it to you. Walk the beautiful paths, God created them, let your eyes admire the beautiful spectacles of nature, God gave them their splendour. Love all that is beautiful. Nature is a work of love and consolation. »
« You must despise the judgments of the multitude because they prevent you from growing. They want you locked up in your provisions. Let them talk. Their advice comes from an easy heart that first wishes you happiness. »
« Yes we(
suffer from not being able to persuade you that happiness is within your reach. »
« If you ceased to live according to your desires on human advantages, the criterion of your happiness would shift, the smell of wisteria would have a value for your soul. »
« The only way to be happy is to love, to forget yourself. »
Excerpt from the chapter: "The why of suffering?" :
«If anyone wants to come with me,
let him stop thinking about himself and carry his cross. »
« Sister Emmanuelle, said the superior to me one day, currently, you only see your problem. It's normal. But share more of other people's problems, and yours will lose its monopoly. Open your heart to the hurt of others, and your wound will heal. »
« By loving others, your own tears will miraculously heal. »
Excerpt from the chapter: "Renunciation" :
« Love, really, is to make your happiness depend on other beings. It is to see one's good outside oneself. »
« To love is to forget oneself, and the woman who forgets herself and sinks into her love is sublime. She finds in this annihilation her crown of light and the immortal radiance of her being. »
You see the miracle coming only if you forget yourself.
This is the secret of secrets.
« Love, what is it? give way to the benefit of the other. On Earth, the love that is closest to absolute Love is the love of a mother for her child. »
Matter purifies itself when it burns.
The flame grows, the light spreads.
Excerpt from the chapter: "Find the way within yourself" :
« Listen to your inner self. Hush… do you hear that? This sound you hear in your heart is you, the inner you speaking through your innermost feelings. Feelings that you often overlook and push away in ignorance of their source and the information they convey. These feelings come on the wings of angels and light up the path before you. Do not take them lightly and do not trample them with your decisions to go ever higher in your world of dreams. »
« Through the ordeals that everyone goes through, a path of peace and wisdom opens up. It is this work within our consciences which conditions our lives then, then, our after-life. »
For those who are tired of being wrong.
Excerpt from the page: "Taking-back-control" :
« In you there are two characters, one terrestrial, stuck to matter, mired in its heaviness, and the other celestial, letting itself be carried by the light. The moment you conceive your two poles, you become greedy for unity and begin your quest for purity. But that's also where the trouble begins! In the innocence of unconsciousness you found a certain tranquility, operating in the same patterns for generations, fit to taste the pleasures of the flesh.
However, as soon as your consciousness opens to greater lucidity, your thirst for clarity comes up against the shadows.
In the grip of an existential despair, your mind then plays monumental tricks on you. You become the prey of grief, terrible doubts, loneliness and your impatience.
We are with you more than ever in these wanderings. Because then we recognize in you the flame, the inner fire. Then begins an interior dialogue between your soul, which has already recognized us, and us who are your servants, your companions on the way. At your side, ready to support you in the difficult passages, smiling at your stammerings as a child of light. In your heart of hearts, ego of earth and soul of light manifest themselves to each other and show themselves in turn. There is no point in adjusting them with a master's hand, there is no point in wishing for their fruitful friendship. Their role is not to oust each other. Thus you grow, by making in you the union of your part of incarnated man and your part of brilliance of light. It is there, in the balanced axis between these two aspects of yourself, that you touch that you touch the new dimension that allows you to Over-Live(among earthly torments) . Then your personality of light irrigates your being incarnated in matter for a happy birth: that of the new Man in you, an incarnated reflection of the Father Creator. »
« Who wants to save his life will lose it. »
« To lose your life to save it is to give your time, the time you reserved for yourself, in order to offer it to those you love. »
« The search for happiness above all things is madness! This is going straight to failure.
You will only find happiness by forgetting to look for it. (...) The more you flee from the personal search for joys, the closer you will come to a spiritual state which is really "happiness". »
« Why is it so hard to find happiness? Because we are expecting it. Happiness is not something that comes or does not come, just like that, from outside. Happiness is a state of consciousness that depends on our good understanding of things. We must not imagine that we came on earth to live in ease, pleasures, abundance. We came to earth to learn and improve. But how can you improve if you don't have new problems to solve every day? Here, it must be clear: the earth is a school and, as in all schools, only those who learn and progress can be happy. (...) Because it is in the victory over the trials that you will draw your happiness. »
« Man was created to know not happiness but truth. »
« I believe that nothing can fully satisfy us on Earth because our spirit, created by God, seeks God, knowing it or not. »
Contributions of abbot Pierre on the theme of:The WAY, Relationships, LIFE, Suffering or DEATH
« Learned men do not lament over the living or the dead. »
Excerpt from the page: "Taking-back-control" :
« What all religious or esoteric teachings call the way, is for those who are tired of being wrong. The path begins with a complete reversal of our way of seeing. When you have known enough rich, admired and unhappy men and women, you know that money and success do not bring happiness and that there must be "something" to understand and find. Conversely, how many people without beauty, without notoriety, are nevertheless relaxed, at peace and happy. There are people who are both fulfilled and desperate, and people who are disgraced or crippled, but radiant with joy. Happiness or suffering only apparently depends on external conditions. Happiness or misfortune are the expression of what we are, not the result of what we have. The important thing is not to have but to be. The sage is free from desire. He stopped opposing what we like to what we don't like. The one who, on the contrary, can feel himself to be only on the condition of having is necessarily in competition with those who also covet to have what he desires. For him there is neither rest nor peace. To have does not only mean to have money or material goods, but all that is combined with this verb: to have knowledge, prestige, honors, original ideas, an ideal, an ideology, experiences, friends, admirers, everything that we can say "my", everything that can give the illusion of filling the inner void and the nullity of being. »
« The way is a huge hospital where those who have recognized and accepted the fact of their illness meet. This disease is the disease of the ego, of individualism, which imprisons us in the duality of desires and refusals. »
« Happiness is the surest criterion of wisdom. We know that we have reached the end of the road when we are in the state of total happiness, to which nothing is missing and nothing can be added. The man around us is far, very far from it, because he seeks outside himself the meaning of his life. Addiction causes an external event to mutilate us as if our very being was called into question. »
« Happiness has always appeared to me as the sign of their perfection and the quality of their hearts. To the only one who can tell you: "I feel so happy. », open your house for life, because the happiness that comes to her is a sign of her quality. »
« Happiness, we possess it in ourselves when we let it penetrate, when the soul is serene. »
« Love, joy and peace are deep states of Being. Their origin is beyond the mind.
In the state of non-awakening and identification with the mind, what is called joy is most often just pleasure. Which is always brought about by something outside of you, while joy emanates from within. In other words, the thing that gives you pleasure today will make you suffer tomorrow. Or the pleasure will disappear and its absence will make you suffer. »
are we on earth to be happy or not?
The illusory
« Happiness does not consist in acquiring and enjoying,
but in desiring nothing. »
« All the comfort in the world will never be called happiness. »[Rosemary Altea, "A Long Ladder to Heaven"]
« The key to our happiness depends on our ability to be satisfied. Happiness in this world depends on our desires, which is why it is unstable. Because the characteristic of desire is never to be satisfied, it leads us to want to receive and possess always more. This permanent dissatisfaction creates suffering because the happiness that results from the fulfillment of pleasure does not last. We are afraid to see it disappear because we know it is inconstant, and like children, we seek to accumulate moments of happiness. »
« By dint of advocating the cult of matter and appearances, we have erected a society that has lost the link with the spiritual. Wealth and success are presented as the ultimate aspirations and the biggest dreams to achieve in order to be happy. We come to neglect the spirit. Matter becomes an end in itself and the question: "Why are we here?" loses all its meaning. Locked in our ego and obsessed with appearances, we end up missing out on a lot of things. »
« (...) I did not conclude from this that the quality of food was opposed to the quality of happiness, but simply that where goods are in greater number, men are offered more chances of mislead about the nature of their joys. In prosperity it may be that they are more easily deceived and more often run to vain riches. Those in the desert or in the monastery, possessing nothing, clearly know where their joys come from. »
« Where does it come from that wealth does not enrich me? » they lament and they calculate that it is appropriate only to increase it because it was not sufficient. And they appropriate some others, which encumber them even more. And here they are cruel in their irreparable boredom. »
« If given the choice, I would only treat wealthy patients, because they no longer believe that their problems can be solved by money. »
« When you've known enough rich, admired, and unhappy men and women, you know that money and success don't bring happiness and that there must be 'something' to understand and find. Happiness or misfortune are the expression of what we are, not the result of what we have. »
« During several existences, I passed through the hardships of work and misery which I had voluntarily chosen to fortify and purify my soul. I had the good fortune to emerge victorious, but there remained the most perilous of all: that of wealth and material well-being. Many minds, seduced by appearances, hasten to choose it; alas, they too weak! to face danger. »
Paula, countess of V... on earth
« This one thinks he finds his joy in the richness of the heap of objects. Powerless as he is to extricate it because it does not reside there, he multiply its wealth, and stacks the objects in pyramids and goes to agitate among them in their cellars, like these savages who dismantle the drum for you to capture the noise. »
« Life on earth is an illusion and what it offers is deceptive. The thirst for power, money... are only appearances and lies. All the goods of the earth are abandoned one day, willingly or by force, and leave only a taste of ashes and regrets. »
« One day, man will understand that there is, beyond the enjoyment of earthly goods, an infinitely greater and infinitely more lasting happiness. »
« In the Buddhist tradition in which I grew up, it is taught that all human beings share the same discomfort: dissatisfaction. Everyone is dissatisfied, no one knows how to be content with what they have. For the Buddha, this was the fundamental problem of all mankind. »
The trap of material goods
« You free yourself from the weight of matter, not by denying it, but by using it to approach the other shore. »
« Being poor is not a sin; however, it is better to avoid it. »
Our links with the object
are we on earth to be happy or not?
The illusory
“Pleasure is the happiness of fools,
happiness is the pleasure of the wise.
« Man should strive to see the positive side of everything. He must take full advantage of the joys offered by life, but without neglecting the real reason for his existence. »
« And I passed in front of my one-legged cobbler busy embellishing his slippers with gold filigree. And I clearly understood, despite the fact that he no longer had a voice, that he was singing. "What is it, cobbler, that makes you so happy?" But I didn't listen to the answer, knowing that he would make a mistake and talk to me about the money earned or the meal that awaited him or the rest. Not knowing that his happiness lay in being transfigured into golden slippers. »
« It is in the effort that one finds satisfaction, not in the success. »
Contributions of Mahatma Gandhi on the subject of:The WAY, Relationships, LIFE, Suffering or DEATH
- Can you give me the secret of happiness?
- I believe so. You're ready ?
- I'm ready.
- Be satisfied.
- That's all ?
- Be grateful.
- That's all ?
- For what you already have. For the love you receive. For what God gave you.
- That's all ? He looked me deep in the eye. Then he had a deep sigh. - That's all. »
« Happiness is continuing to want what you have. »
The success in society
« Patients at the end of life realize that love is the only thing that matters – the only thing we can take with us. These patients have stopped looking for happiness “out there”. They have discovered the wealth of each today. »
« Mom, the weather is fine, the sun today gladdens the hearts of the birds and they all sing. When the light laughs on earth, simply be happy. »
The importance of the present moment
« When we become aware of our role, even the most hidden, only then will we be happy. »
are we on earth to be happy or not?
The illusory
« Everything will crumble around you; they are gifts from God. You will be so light when you die that you will almost immediately come to me. If you were happy again, you would reweave your web with humans, and I don't think that would be beneficial to you, because you could never be completely satisfied. »
« When they are too unhappy men think: "That I can only escape my suffering and I don't ask for anything else." However, as soon as their anguish or despair subsides, aspirations and desires are coming back. »
« The pitfalls of joy are that joy is self-sufficient, it does not bring being to transcend itself. » (...) Any humanly satiated life does not seek. You only begin to look up at the sky when worry torments you. »
« (...) But above all, one must be wary of the traps set by the 'gentleness of life'. It encloses us in a hushed comfort, perfectly insulating.
This is not a reason to refuse it, nor the facilities it offers us, but we must not allow it to anesthetize us. We have to stay clear-headed(attentive to the other) , the Essential is "elsewhere". »
Contributions by Jeanne Guesné on the theme of:The WAY, Relationships, LIFE, Suffering or DEATH
« Comfort is extremely fragile, an illusion that puts you to sleep. »
These contingencies that are only meant to wake us up
« We repeat, it is not in comfort that the soul evolves
« The purpose of our life during our passage on Earth, then after our death, in the various worlds of the beyond, is an increasingly complete realization of our being. »
« Every soul must become aware of itself little by little. In evolution, the mineral becomes plant, the plant becomes animal and the animal will become human. This is the great chain of life. »
« The important thing for you is to evolve in order to modify your vibrational state.
The Earth is a domain that allows the soul to modify its vibrations through more or less difficult life experiences. »
continued...
, but in hardship. Accept it, it strengthens you, gain self-confidence. You will then stand on your legs. This is how we want you. »
are we on earth to be happy or not?
The illusory
« The light of a lamp annihilates the shadow. »
« From child you will learn to be joyful for no reason. »
« Have fun on Earth!" We laugh all the time to see you take everything too seriously. »
(Cf. Knowing how to laugh at yourself )
Accept suffering as the messenger from heaven.-
How to welcome suffering and be joyful at the same time?
It is possible because you are on the right path.
« Accept suffering, but also accept joy; and when she takes you away from sadness and darkness, marry her with all your being. God loves smiles, God loves joy, God loves open hearts. Adorn yourself with flowers, hum with the angels, know how to remain in the innocence of a child's laughter. »
« I would like to remind those who approach these Dialogues that “spirituality” also rhymes – first? – with “gaiety”, and that this spirituality can be rooted in an unalterable good sense and a very keen taste for the joys of this land. »
« The more you develop your spirituality, the lighter you are. Joy is the clue to know if one has succeeded in one's incarnation. »
THE JOY IS THE SIGN. Note who is rejoicing and about what.
« Certainly, each ordeal, if it is transformed by love, advances, allowing the soul to rise in vibrations, in quality.
But not only the ordeal : a real love shared, a real laugh shared, everything brings us closer to the divine vibration. »
Contributions by Anne Ray-Wendling on the subject of:The WAY, Relationships, LIFE, Suffering or DEATH
« Reviewing the film of their life, the dying often express these regrets:
"Ah, if only I could have taken life less seriously!"
They consider their professional, social or other success with pride, but they have understood that existence is not limited to this aspect. They have the feeling of having failed when their professional success has not been accompanied by that of their personal life. »
« It is the moments of laughter, of shared joy that matter most in life. When someone dies, he does not tell me how much money or other wealth he had. No, he rather brings to my mind the people who have accompanied him throughout his journey here on Earth. It is these memories that represent his true treasures. »