A Great Discovery
I’ve just made the greatest discovery in my life thus far…
Let me explain.
Freud said that human beings are bound to be miserable because of our very nature. That it’s as though we have in-built mechanisms that ensure our suffering. He observed that everybody wants to be happy, but everybody is miserable. He is right. And anybody who observes human beings and dwell deep into human psyche will eventually have the same conclusion.
My discovery is that this misery is a result of our desire for happiness. From this desire for happiness, people desire many other different things.
It may be..
..a man desires lots of women.
..a man desires power.
..a man desires money.
..a girl desires a Prince Charming.
..a Christian desires eternal salvation through Christ.
..a person desires freedom.
Ultimately, all these desires (and many others, I just listed the common ones) boil down to the root desire for happiness because we think that those things make us happy. And in that desiring for happiness, humanity is bound to misery.
So how is it that desiring happiness makes people miserable? Shouldn’t it make people happy?
I’m glad you asked.
The moment a person desires happiness, he moves away from the present, the Now, the existential and moves into the future, into that which has not come, into a dream. And no one has ever been able to be completely fulfilled from dreams. No one has ever been able to bridge dreams and reality.
Also, the desire for happiness simply shows that the person is miserable in this moment. Since the next moment grows out of this moment, this person is bound to be miserable in the next moment. He might become comfortable with the misery. Maybe he won lottery, maybe he found a new girlfriend, maybe he got promoted at work. But ultimately he is still miserable, simply because he still desires.
So I’ve found that in dropping the desire for happiness, and hence the many desires that sprout out of it, I’ve been able to really be in this moment, in the Now. And the amazing thing is, in the Now, no one is ever able to feel miserable. I tried, but without bringing in the past or the future, it is absolutely impossible to feel miserable.
Try it! Let me know 
PS. Had this satori when reading <The Buddha Said…> by OSHO.
