Follow Your Bliss
I’m supposed to be getting on with the 30 day challenge, but I have had three questions in the last few days, that are all screaming for the same answer so I had to write this post.
I’ll summarise the questions;
How do you keep enthusiastic when the world grinds you down?
I can daydream what I want, but can’t see how to get there?
How can you live with integrity when the people around you judge by money, results and status?
So really the questions amount to, how do you follow your bliss, when the world pulls you away from it.
After the 30 day challenge, I’m embarking on an in-depth study of something that will provide the framework of a course to achieve this. But for now, I’m going to give you the theoretical overview.
Be In This World, But Not Of It
The solution really lies in the words, be in this world, but not of it. But to many this seems like a riddle. And it has been misunderstood for centuries. So let’s start with something more modern, that maybe is easier to relate to.
I’ve already written a post explaining why I didn’t like The Secret, but from following the work of Abraham-Hicks whose work, ‘The Secret’ was based on, I’m pretty familiar and aligned with the ideas contained in the law of attraction though. To sum up, the idea is that you focus on what you want and by maintaining a happy and unconflicted emotional state, you bring it into your reality.
The problem with ‘The Secret’ though, was that it was designed to make money. So it took some deep principles and presented it, in a way that pandered to the lowest common denominator of greed.
A guide to getting everything that you want. So people thought it was a quick and easy way to riches.
The truth however, is that you can create your world, but it’s not that you actually create it, more that you evolve emotionally and spiritually to the level where they already are.
The makers of The Secret, I think, got excited about something they didn’t really understand and in their excitement they actually got it back to front. Here’s why…
The world has nothing that will ever fulfill what you really want. It is filled with temporary desires and fulfillment.
photo credit: Svadilfari
Food, sex and toys. All you will crave and once sated you will crave again. That oh so tempting dessert. That hot model. That dream house. Once you have tasted these desires you will become dissatisfied with them and chase something else.
The world works on false ideas. Everything is temporary. It works, until it reaches breaking point.
Yet we are eternal beings. And so our real desires are eternal. We might just see them masked as objects in the world, but what we really want is;
Peace,
Joy,
Growth,
Bliss,
Belonging
Love
And Connection.
I think Bruce summed it up perfectly in his comment (on the second page of comments) on the post, what is the end goal, where he said what we are really seeking is completion. Wholeness.
For Happiness Find Your Own Path And Follow Your Bliss
Following your bliss can never be achieved in the desolate, emotionally barren world around us. When we seek these in our relationships, our careers and in the success of the world, we find only temporary glimpses. But it is never a stable state.
Because these deeper states of being need a Carrier, someone who can maintain the connection with the eternal to bring them in. A bridge from the eternal.
Our planet physically keeps us down through gravity. Emotionally it also keeps us down through emotional gravity. I wrote about the idea, in my emotional stress management guide. You see, there’s actually an ongoing battle taking place. Each of us is going through life fighting the world saying,
‘this isn’t fair. That isn’t right. This needs to change.’
And the world is saying,
‘No. I’m fine. Actually it’s you who needs to change.’
So from the moment we dirty our first nappy, we are at odds with the world. And so they have put in place all these laws and institutions to school us out of our ’savagery’ and into conforming with it’s nice orderly patterns. The world cares not a jot about you or your wellbeing. It cares not about fairness or rightness. It only cares about maintaining it’s status quo.
The world and the people in it can never supply you with what you want.
Unconditional love and approval.
Because to do that they would have to place your wellbeing above their own. And that is not something it would ever do. Anymore than you would unhesitatingly and unquestioningly give up your opinions and beliefs to be replaced by another’s.
People often talk about having spent twenty or more years climbing the ladder, only to find that it was propped up against the wrong wall. To try to achieve anything in this world is futile. Because it will always end up rusting, dying or decaying.
Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius?
Upon force.
Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love;
and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Throughout history there has never been a shortage of people who are willing to go to any extreme to dominate the world. However their domination has always been short lived and illusory. It never brought them peace from the inner fear and insecurity that drove them.
Follow Your Bliss Into The Eternal
In contrast, think of those who pursued their passion for ideas and philosophies that were not of this world. Socrates, Lao Tsu, Mohammad, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Leonardo Da Vinci, Ghandi and many, many more.
Part of them lives on in the world today. Because through their excitement and love for what was not of this world they pursued it until it became part of the world we see. And so their passion and love is with us today, built into the fabric of our society.
When you follow the path to your bliss, sooner or later, you will connect to something eternal. Something outside of this world. And in that place you will find peace and a level of joy that you will never find in this world. When people meditate and find great comfort and peace, they are touching on this place. But it is in following your bliss that you will create your own home there.
photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar
This will become your sanctuary. The true ‘happy place’. From time to time the world will pull you back into it’s reality. But you will notice the drop in your emotional state and so it becomes more and more tiresome to you. You will care less and less about what people say about you. You will care less and less about the judgements made about you. And you’ll care less and less about your success as the world judges it. The everyday world holds less and less appeal.
And so you bring your blissful home into your everyday world. And this then becomes hailed as a work of genius. It was never worldly genuis, but actually just a translation of something that is run of the mill in another world.
And in the process of achieving this, you find heaven on earth and live not a worldly life, but an eternal life. Freed from the grip of emotional gravity, that would depress you.
But it all begins with a choice. Yours. Which path do you take?
Do you choose to be judged by worldly standards?
Or do you create your own world?
photo credit: Rodrigo Soldon
I think it's vital to find the "bliss" within – independent of any outer activities. Then when we proceed from that "state" we will natural be inspired to be able to serve in way that are fulfilling not just for ourselves, but for all.
That's all very well but who's going to pay the rent?
I find it hard to live in bliss on a park bench in the middle of winter!
The two – bliss (let's call it "contentment" or "inner satisfaction" because people have a lot more concepts of what bliss might look like) and paying the rent, are not mutually exclusive.
Do the people around us really judge us by money, results and status?
I think that it is us we are judging ourselves by these standards. If i look closely at how others judge us, i am amazed that others realy do not care. It is us, in our need to be and to be perceived as successful, employ these rather dubius standards.
Since majoity of us have this need to be successful and since wedo not have better alternatives to measure success, money and status have become accepted norms. And you are very right that it is only an illusion.
If e see ourselves in the context of larger time (billions of years) and space (the whole universe), our existence is largely inconsequential. All this striving to be perceived as successful and worrying about how the world judges us is meaningless.
Connection with our eternal self is probably the only real meaingful pursuit. And as you say, any action or quest that one undertakes from this connection will be the wok of a genious.
Being in the world and following ones unique path without taking the burden of being judged by worldly standards can also lead us to the connection with the eternal.
Both the above are complimentary and necessary
I think 'bliss' means, pursuing your passion with all the 'contentment' it naturally brings to you. I don't mean sitting on a couch and meditating on yourself until you feel great but something that honestly drives you, like writing, or helping people, creating, walking, whatever. Something that when you are doing it, you forget yourself and all you want to do is become better and better at it, and when that happens the rent will get paid, surely, because it is core to your well being. Put trust in what you cannot see yet, but you know must be there. I wasn't put here just to pay the rent. At least I'd like to think I wasn't anyway..
Matt,
I wasn't as clear as I should have been. Thanks, Tim and Ois for clarifying what I meant.
But I'm curious. I think there is an important point that underlies this and I think together we could bridge this gap.
What makes you believe that following your bliss would mean that you couldn't pay your bills?
Rob…
I understand your point about the things of the world bearing only illusory meanings but doesn't the realization of this fact then play into our sense that we are separate from each other? If my experience with someone is only transitory doesn't that only further underline the fact that we will never understand each other because of this great distance between our souls, that there could never be such a thing as love as it's defined by popular culture? Sometimes "bliss from within" and not caring what others might think manifests as sheer egotism, and it does seem to me these days as if the planet is full of people who just don't give a damn. I think of the picture of the sanctuary for instance, but see only myself there. What would be the point of fellowship with others if the gulf still hangs between us, immovable. I don't want to be lonely is what I am saying. And yet it does seem to be the deeper reality after we are free from emotional gravity, right? I don't want to be following my bliss and still feel cut off and unloved, because it's possible, isn't it—to practice what your true contentment is at some other personal cost? Picasso comes to mind with his private pursuit of hedonism or even Hemingway.
I understand your concern, Francis. I used to read in books about leaving the world behind and the ending of special relationships and so on and feel frightened that I would not still love my family. However now I see the same thing in a different way.
There is what is you at the core. A part of life. Then there is the part that you might call the Ego.
The Ego wants the things of the world. And when Ego's relate, they interact as separated beings.
The part that is truly you, is in this world, but not of it. It is you in your best moments. And so when you operate at that level, you are connected to the best of others. It is relating truly without ego or selfishness or greed and so purely relating without conflict.
It's not about being alone or hedonistic. It's about being at one with everything, where the jigsaw is complete. It's not about not caring or not loving, but about loving and caring for all.
However because you already have the connection and approval of the best part of everyone, you don't need the connection and approval of the Egoic parts of others.
It is like no longer wanting to play with children's toys. They are still there and available. It's just that you want something more interesting and involving. And the childish taunts that once cut so deep, now are laughed at.
When you look at the life of another person, you can never truly know the feelings they had, so it's always difficult to analyse motives accurately.
[...] unknown posted a noteworthy aricle today onHere’s a small snippetI wrote about the idea, in my emotional bstress/b management guide. You see, there’s actually an ongoing battle taking place. Each of us is going through life fighting the world saying,. ‘this isn’t fair. That isn’t right. This needs to change .’ And the world is saying,. ‘No. I’m fine. Actually it’s you who needs to b…/b Discussion Area – Leave a Comment. Name. Mail (will not be published). Website. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. « The bStress Reduction/b Challenge b…/b [...]
Hi Rob,
I had posted two comments about 8 hours ago..I did not save a copy. Pls check whether it is in the error box.
Siva
These words made great reading and I identify with all of them but some based on an increasingly strong feeling rather than something I can articulate well. I am interested in the idea that when we evolve we accept and come to love what is in the world rather than fighting against it – this is expressed well by Byron Katie when she says ' I am a lover of truth'. Many people I have spoken to struggle with the idea of us being eternal beings and our interlinkedness – I have an increasing sense of the truth of this but can't explain it well or justify it – maybe the latter will never be possible? You make the statement as though it is obvious – would be good to know your ideas more fully. I am only interested as this feeling has increased my quality of life more than I ever imagined possible – I am convinced life does not have to be as tough as it is for most of us – I still come back to th fact that over most of my life that I never considered it was even possible to do anything about this – then things got so bad that I had to do something and it was there to be had all along!
Ruth, you're right. These things have to be experienced and become "real" to use. The first step is to conceive that there might just be a better way of perceiving everything. I have used Byron Katie's "The Work" and other similar forms of inquiry and forgiveness for some years, and have found them to be radically life-altering.
Yes they were. Approved now.
I'm so sorry Siva, but they seem to have disappeared. I saw them in the spam filter approved them, but they have disappeared. I can't find them anywhere. Will continue looking. Hopefully it's just a glitch that will sort itself out.
Started to reply, but will make this into another post, hopefully later today.
Hi Tim, I agree with you wholeheartedly about finding the "bliss" within. In my work, the first step to helping people realize and understand the uniqueness of their bliss, is to help them feel the "physicality" of where they are right now. ____As a result of the Abraham Hick material and the Secret, it is necessary for us to take the next step in the evolution of our Happiness. ____Here's where it gets confusing for most. WE FORGET THAT WE ARE MAKING UP THE RULES AS WE GO ALONG. TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE INTERESTING, WE TRY TO KEEP FROM BEING ACCOUNTABLE FOR OUR CREATION BY JUDGING AND COMPARING OUR RULES WITH OTHERS. YIKES!!! NO ONE WANTS TO ADMIT THAT!!!____To stay in the hellicopter of life and still feel and experience life was tricky for the Masters. After so many examples to follow, we STILL get tripped up. Sometimes IT IS VITAL TO FEEL LIFE in order to transcend higher in our our unique contribution! My two cents, thank you so much for your post, will share with my readers…You are very very cool! Just found you! Kathy <The Happiness Chick>
How to live a high defn life?
Every moment we could be in the following states:
1.Deep Sleep
2.Dreams in Sleep
3.Waking
Let us now focus only on the waking moments for the present. What does high defn living look like in practical terms?
Focused and absorbed in a task. Currently I am focused on writing this piece. I am not worried about what others are going to think about my writing. I am not worried or bothered whether I could be better utilizing my time. For how long is such absorption possible? Perhaps after 20 mins or so , I would not know what to write (this very thought is creating a conflict), something more urgent may crop up that requires my attention, or simply my mind would be fatigued and would want some moments without any focus. Then I would perhaps take a break, and most probably eat something (even when not hungry). Or might chit chat with someone and might end up gossiping or talking about say the economy and get into endless and pointless discussions. This would get me out of focus.
Cont..
So how does one respond to the inevitable fatigue that comes with absorption? Take a few long breaths, and empty the mind. Just let go and relax into a few moments of stillness. There might be lots of things popping into our consciousness. Some unfinished tasks, some deadlines, old worries, what do I do next etc. We can get carried way by one of those thoughts and spend time and energy on that. This could happen even unconsciously. Sometimes one of these digressions could lead us into significant insights and would enhance our sense of who we are and would be in line with our journey, but oftentimes, it leads us along path those are not related to our journey.
[...] everything I write at the moment seems to be about ‘be in this world, but not of it’. But this is the key to your situation. How people think of you, your name and your reputation [...]