Rising Above Life's Turmoil

True Happiness
To maintain an unchangeable sweetness of disposition, to think only
thoughts that are pure and gentle, and to be happy under all
circumstances...
Such blessed conditions and such beauty of character and life should be
the aim of all. Particularly so of those who wish to lessen the misery of
the world.
If anyone has failed to lift himself above ungentleness, impurity, and
unhappiness, he is greatly deluded if he imagines he can make the world
happier by the propagation of any theory or theology.
He who is daily living in harshness, impurity, or unhappiness is day by day
adding to the sum of the world's misery.
Whereas he who continually lives in goodwill, and does not depart from
happiness, is day by day increasing the sum of the world's happiness. And
this is independent of any religious beliefs of which may or may not hold.
He who has not learned how to be gentle, or giving, loving and happy,
has learned very little. And while great may be his worldly knowledge,
and likewise - profound may be his acquaintance with Scripture...
It is in the process of becoming gentle, pure, and happy that the deep,
real and enduring lessons of life are learned.
Unbroken sweetness of conduct in the face of all outward antagonism is
the infallible indication of a self-conquered soul, the witness of wisdom,
and the proof of the possession of Truth.
A sweet and happy soul is the ripened fruit of experience and wisdom. It
sheds abroad the invisible yet powerful aroma of its influence - making
glad the hearts of others, and purifying the world.
And all who will, and who have not yet commenced, may begin this day,
if they will so resolve to live sweetly and happily (as becomes the dignity
of a true manhood or womanhood). Do not say that your surroundings are
against you. A man's surroundings are never against him.
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They are there to aid him, and all those outward occurrences over which
you lose sweetness and peace of mind are the very conditions necessary
to your development.
It is only by meeting and overcoming them that you can learn, and grow,
and ripen. The fault is in yourself. For pure happiness is the rightful and
healthy condition of the soul, and all may possess it if they will live
purely and unselfishly.
"Have goodwill
To all that lives, letting unkindness die,
And greed and wrath, so that your lives be made
Like soft airs passing by."
Is this too difficult for you? Then unrest and unhappiness will continue to
dwell with you. Your belief and aspiration and resolve are all that are
necessary to make it easy; to render it in the near future a thing
accomplished, a blessed state realized.
Despondency, irritability, anxiety and complaining, condemning and
grumbling- all these are thought-cankers, mind-diseases. They are the
indications of a wrong mental condition. Those who suffer from them
would do well to remedy their thinking and conduct.
It is true there is much sin and misery in the world, so that all our love
and compassion are needed. But our misery is not needed. There is
already too much of that.
No, it is our cheerfulness and happiness that are needed, for there is too
little of that. We can give nothing better to the world than beauty of life
and character.
Without this, all other things are “vanity of vanities” as spoken by King
Solomon millennia ago; with beauty of life and character is pre-eminent
excellence. It is enduring, real, and not to be overthrown, and it includes
all joy and blessedness.
Cease to dwell pessimistically upon the wrongs around you; dwell no
more in complaints about (and revolt not against the evil) in others. But
rather commence to live free from all wrong and evil yourself.
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Peace of mind, pure religion, and true reform are this way. If you would
have others true, be true. If you would have the world emancipated from
misery and sin, emancipate yourself. If you would have your home and
your surroundings happy, be happy.
You can transform everything around you if you will transform yourself.
"Don't bewail and bemoan.....
Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad,
but chant the beauties of the good."
And this you will naturally and spontaneously do as you realize the good
in yourself.
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The Immortal Man
Immortality is here and now, and is not a speculative matter beyond the
grave.
It is a lucid state of consciousness in which the sensations of the body,
the varying and unrestful states of mind – even the circumstances and
events of life - are seen to be of a fleeting (and therefore of an illusory)