Look for Happiness in That Which Lasts

Don’t try to change, control, or get rid of the content of experience. Just allow the attention you’d give it to sink back into your self, the fact of simply being. Ask yourself: What is the nature of my being prior to the arising of experience? When a movie begins, the screen seems to acquire the qualities of things in the movie, but it never actually ceases being itself. Likewise, when thoughts, images, sensations and so on arise, our being seems to acquire their qualities. But what is the nature of our being before they arise? It is without quality. Mind and body are always moving and changing, but no experience adds anything to or removes anything from our being, which is always whole. It needs, desires, and resisting nothing, and thus its nature is peace, happiness, quiet joy. If we want lasting peace and happiness, we should look for it in that which lasts.

Don’t try to change, control, or get rid of the content of experience. Just allow the attention you’d give it to sink back into your self, the fact of simply being. Ask yourself: What is the nature of my being prior to the arising of experience? When a movie begins, the screen seems to acquire the qualities of things in the movie, but it never actually ceases being itself. Likewise, when thoughts, images, sensations and so on arise, our being seems to acquire their qualities. But what is the nature of our being before they arise? It is without quality. Mind and body are always moving and changing, but no experience adds anything to or removes anything from our being, which is always whole. It needs, desires, and resisting nothing, and thus its nature is peace, happiness, quiet joy. If we want lasting peace and happiness, we should look for it in that which lasts.