Hi,
I'm Bassem.
Thank you for joining me.
We should be feeling safe,
Happy,
Satisfied,
Contented,
Fulfilled.
This doesn't get better with age,
When our identity markers start to dismantle,
And we start to feel like we're being stripped,
Urgent,
Frustrated,
Afraid,
Frantic,
Wondering how to deal with this transition,
This dismantling of our identity structures.
They have pegged their internal state on external markers.
It's safe outside.
The weather is good.
I've got friends around me.
I've got money in the bank.
I'm in good health.
For my part,
I've come to understand that happiness is intimacy of being,
Whereas Rupert Spears says happiness is the knowing of yourself.
He says happiness is the knowing of self.
If you pull out your external investment,
Your dependence on the world,
And allow yourself to cross this great abyss,
What sometimes has been called the dark night of the soul,
You no longer count how much money you've got in order to see if you should feel safe.
You no longer base how good your life is on whether you've got friends and people around you.
You don't use these external measures anymore.
Once you cross this dark night of the soul,
Come to see that happiness is the intimacy of being,
Keeping time with your being,
As the word suggests,
Is itself happiness.
It's the meeting of you.
That's happiness.
Happiness is not an external thing.
It's not a product.
It's not an achievement,
Nor is peace or joy or feeling safe.
All of these are part and parcel of your being.
You're born with these qualities.
The outside is ever-changing,
So we're continuously justifying our unhappiness,
Excusing our behavior,
Pushing our enlightenment until tomorrow.
No one is to blame for this.
But even so,
It's our responsibility.
From early on,
We're trained to focus our attention,
The light of awareness,
Externally,
Away from ourselves.
Consequently,
We no longer recognize ourselves.
We have no sense of our being.
The only time we have a sense of our being is if we drop below the mind.
