The Effort to Recover Innate Happiness

"If happiness is the nature of our being, why do we have to make an effort to find it? Shouldn’t it simply be present without any practice? Rupert says: ‘You are absolutely right – if happiness is the nature of being, we shouldn’t have to make an effort to be happy, just as we don’t make an effort simply to be. But our innate happiness has been clouded over by thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions. We have become so mixed up in our experience that although we are still essentially our being, and our being is essentially peaceful, we are not in touch with that peace. It’s like an actor, John Smith, who is inherently happy but feels miserable when lost in playing King Lear. King Lear must trace his way back through the layers of character to rediscover he is John Smith. That’s why we must make an effort to recover our innate happiness.’"

From event 21 - 28 November, 2025 Seven-Day Retreat at The Vedanta, 21–28 November 2025

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