The straight path to happiness should lead to an even more desirable goal: I speak of the step of becoming “awake.” Such a higher experience is the state of bliss, entitlement, and even Nirvana.
Many are cynical of the concept of Nirvana. Yet I believe with every fiber of my being that it’s real. One of many reasons that I believe in the reality of it is that it makes sense logically and mathematically. If there are such things as hate/rage/evilness, there must be opposites, which would be love/joy/goodness. And I refer to the combo as “the Nirvana package.”
I'm convinced of my own belief regarding Nirvana because of my firsthand experience. But there are many who find Nirvana but seem to fluctuate from the state of Nirvana to a state of being boring and plain and with residual hang-ups that I call suffering. But it's possible to reach Nirvana and reduce the number of such fluctuations.
Enlightenment is attainable, and in fact it's right under our skin. You have chances to see clues of your greatness and your divine consciousness every day. The more actions you take to liberate your mind, the more you will see such clues appear, and the more your enslaved mind will be freed.
You can take a certain action right now. You can raise your hands, turn your palms toward the sky, wave them left and right, and whisper to yourself: “What a miracle I am, that I can draw in breath and continue my life! What a gift it is that I'm giving this time to experience my own creation and observe such a myriad of things! A few humans may mock me, but birds are singing back to me—what can I sing back to them? So, I raise my hands to praise all of creation!”
You can then whisper to yourself the answer to the question, “Who am I?” And your answer should be along the lines of the following:
“I am a physical being. I have a deep consciousness that leads me to understand that the source of it is in pure light. There's a divine attachment connected to a creator who's letting me make choices.”
For myself, everything I perceive in the material world is a distortion influenced by my judgments and interpretations of things. I confused the meaning of whatever I see in experience—time, death, space, and even myself. And at times I look at everything in terms of loss and gain.
Yet somehow my judgments and my views are all that I have to get me through. I can't let go and become a squirrel or a leopard. I am human, and I am nothing at the same time. It's the great paradox of life: It exists, but it is an illusion.
What do I want for you? The same thing that I want for myself and for the world. I want for us to be supremely happy. I want for us to live long, pleasurable lives. And I want for us to live spiritual lives, but perhaps not in terms of the dogma of certain religious beliefs that are often misinterpreted. I long for you and for me to embrace the spirituality of compassionate civilizations, much like early hunter gatherers who came alongside ancient religions and who were deeply, deeply virtuous and who lived closer to the land. they embraced a spirituality that encompassed a deep respect for the earth, creation, and their own bodies.
And what does such a spiritual life “look like”? It's essentially comprised of four very simple priorities. The first of the four is embodied in the principle of “no harm”: Do no harm to other humans and do no harm to other living creatures (with the exceptions of bacteria, mosquitoes, and similar beings that pose considerable threat to health and survival of humans and others).
The remaining three priorities entail projecting affection to three things—earth, divine creation, and your own body. Every day, look at nature and revel in the wonder of it, or plant a tree or a garden. Every day, praise your divine creator, however you conceive your creator to be. And every day, take care of your body in every way that you can.
So, what will we get out of it if we engage in such spirituality? The primary thing will be life in the present moment. We will be fully immersed in daily living, and our reward will be immediate bliss and joy.
Such joy and bliss will be short-lived if we drift away from the four priorities. And it will also fade away if we perpetually attach ourselves to excessive ownership of material objects: We should only have a limited number of things and give away various things as we buy new ones. Otherwise, we will tend to be more anxious and more distant from the better things of the world.
It's quite clear that attachment to too many things leads humanity away from nature. But it’s also clear that releasing attachments and changing behavior is difficult. It’s difficult and necessary, but anyone who sincerely desires to rid themselves of their anxiety and is willing to work hard at actions to do so can make such changes.