Happiness
It is common knowledge that happiness sought within the realm of thoughts, sensations, objects and activities is a temporary endeavor, that these experiences are by their very nature impermanent. They arise, linger, and fade away.
But that which knows perception is ever-present. It is “I am” that remains. During episodes of joy or sorrow, clarity or calamity, aware presence is the silent witness. Aware presence is not dependent upon any mental or emotional state. It is inherently peaceful, boundless and changeless. It is the essential, fundamental capacity for experience itself. Thoughts, feelings, perceptions and the whole phenomenal world arise and dissolve within awareness, but awareness itself remains, unmoved. It is the infinite screen upon which the movie of experience is expressed.
Unhappiness, then, arises not as a fundamental reality of its own but as the consequence of a mental or emotional obstruction or interference within awareness. So we begin our investigation there, into its apparent reality.
Behind sorrow or confusion we always find the belief of being an separate entity, apart from God.
And when we resist the investigation into our true nature, unhappiness will, sooner or later, cast its oppressive shadow.