Imagine for a moment the following scenario. A perfectly healthy individual goes to see the doctor.
DOCTOR: Hello Mister Healthy, what seems to be the trouble?
MR H: Hello Doctor, thanks for fitting me in. I have no trouble, thanks. I am perfectly healthy.
DOCTOR: I see. So why have you come to visit me?
MR H: Well, I was wondering if you could tell me why I am perfectly healthy.
DOCTOR: Why you are perfectly healthy? Health does not have a reason. It is your natural state. If you were ill, I might be able to tell you the reason why you are ill. But I cannot tell you the reason why you are healthy. Health is just an absence of disease or illness.
MR H: But there must be a reason!
DOCTOR: Some things are without reason, Mister Healthy. Do not look for a reason. There is none! Simply enjoy your good health!
MR H: Thank you, Doctor. I will try to remember that. I will not take up any more of your time.
Perhaps this little scenario sounds a bit daft to you, but I would like to suggest that a similar question is asked all the time with regard to one form of health - that is emotional health, which we could use as another term for happiness.
I would like to suggest that happiness is the natural state of a human being. Just as the doctor could not give Mister Healthy a reason for his health, there cannot be a reason for happiness. Thought can supply us with all kinds of reasons for unhappiness, just as there are a myriad of different illnesses. But happiness is simply the absence of any reason to be unhappy.
But often we approach things the wrong way round. Often we think we need a reason to be happy. We ask 'what can I do to make myself happy?' Someone who openly expresses that (s)he is happy for no reason is often considered rather mad! How messed up is our world when simple emotional health is seen as madness and the perpetually unhappy struggle for reasons to be happy is seen as normal?
When we are not happy, there is a reason for that, and from where does this reason usually come? It always comes from thought. Next time you are feeling unhappy, rather than considering what you can do to 'make yourself happy', instead consider what it is you are doing to make yourself unhappy.
It is possible to seek pleasure as a temporary relief from unhappiness. This is like taking a pain killer, which masks symptoms for a while but does nothing to address the root cause of illness. If you want to address the root cause, then you have to become aware of the thoughts you are habitually listening to that are telling you that something is wrong. Thoughts are the root cause of all unhappiness. Thought is the disease. Severing your personal identification with and belief in unhappy thoughts will be like an anti-biotic, directly ridding you of the cause of your disease and restoring your natural, effortless emotional health.
When you uproot and discard your reasons for being unhappy, you will once again find yourself happy for no reason.
Reasons are not needed.
They are totally made up.
When you drop your need for reasons
You can drink from any cup.
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