Everybody
wants to be happy.
Some of us have
looked for fulfillment in external achievement – financial
success, intimate relationships, social status.
Some have
tried therapy or other growth processes. Some
have turned to spiritual pursuits in the hope
that Enlightenment
would end suffering.
And here we are.
We have all had
the experience of the joy of living in the Essence
of who we truly are. As young children,
before we knew anything about meeting standards,
having to be somebody, that parts of us were "good"
or "bad"– we
knew only to be ourselves, as we were.
We grow up
in environments that lead us to believe something
is wrong with us. Our religions teach
us that we are born flawed and the best we can
hope for is salvation after death, advertisers
tell us there is something wrong with us that can
be cured with their products, parents often respond
to us as if we were innately in need of correction,
education focuses us on memorizing correct responses
rather than listening to our own wisdom.
All
of this produces a deep trance of something missing
in us. As a result, we do not live from
the experience of our own authenticity, but instead
live from an image of self that has been given
to us and is not who we truly are. This illusion
has been identified in many traditions – it
has been called the emotional pain body by Eckhart
Tolle, the Parasite by the Toltecs, Tribal Consciousness
by Carolyn Myss, Satan in Christianity, Maya in
Buddhism – and presents itself to us as WHO
WE ARE, and we have unconsciously identified with
it as ourselves.
This is the
voice in our head that leads us toward fear, anxiety,
shame, pain,
and rage. This voice
tells us a story of worry, unworthiness, or lack.
This story is believed and identified with. We
have lived our lives trying to heal it, change
it, placate it, get away from it, or make it go
away.
An
invitation that is being offered is to stop.
To stop all attempts
to get anywhere, get
rid of
anything, be somebody, meet some standard or idea
of who we should be, to stop and tell the truth – initially
the truth about what is really going on with us
behind the masks we may wear, and eventually to
tell the truth about who we really are. And to
live there. This is where we find happiness, regardless
of the circumstances of our lives.
Then
we have reclaimed the power to live our lives
with authenticity.
Then
we have come home, again.
JASON
BRODY holds a Master’s Degree in
Psychology and has 35 years international
experience facilitating personal transformation.