I was trying to tell my husband something about yoga philosophy tonight, when he was looking for his wallet (and he never loses anything, least of all something as important as that), and was this close to finding it, as we drove back to his office where he was SURE he had left it, as he had rushed out the door earlier in the evening....
I said that I suspected he would be SO happy (and relieved) to find his wallet and then be so UNhappy about something else, before we knew it.
I talked about this transitory happiness, this "being made happy" by external things and how we don't have to be slaves to that (there is a higher happiness and peacefulness), don't have to fall into that patterned way of thinking and being.
And how this is a yogic lesson, if he/we would only take it...
We came home (wallet in full possession) and I persisted with these thoughts...how the un/happy meter changes and what made us happy a moment ago - almost in an instant - no longer makes us happy because circumstances have changed, and something else takes its place. I'm not sure he *got* it but still, it was fun (for me) to try out an *application* (let's say), for some of what I am learning with yoga philosophy!
And so I quote the Yoga Sutras ~
"If we are sad over a minor discomfort and all of a sudden receive a telegram saying our business has suffered a tremendous loss, we immediately forget the small problem. The attention is instantly transferred. So everything is relative. Every experience in the world is mental. We might put our minds onto something and think, "This is really great," but once our attention goes somewhere else, that thing becomes nothing to us. That is the reason for the Sanskrit expression, "Mana eva manushyanam." "A man is according to his mind." pg. 117 The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali
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That's very deep and cool. You're right happiness is transitory. Have you ever read Franks Mans Search for Meaning? The guy Is in multiple concentration camps and he explores the idea of how we react to our environment and the raw emotions are transitory.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your posts. Thank you
That sounds like a great book, I will check it out! Thanks for reading and commenting Rich, you are one of my biggest supporters and I will never forget your kindness. :)
ReplyDeleteMichele