Tolle and Baha’i teachings on HAPPINESS
TOLLE:
You cannot be both unhappy and fully present in the Now.
Don’t seek happiness. If you seek it, you won’t find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness. Happiness is ever elusive, but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now, by facing what is rather than making up stories about it.
The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral, which always is as it is. There is the situation or the fact, and here are my thoughts about it. Instead of making up stories, stay with the facts. For example, “I am ruined” is a story. It limits you and prevents you from taking effective action. “I have 50 cents left in my bank account” is a fact. Facing facts is always empowering.
See if you can catch the voice in your head, perhaps in the very moment it complains about something, and recognize it for what it is: the voice of the ego, no more than a thought. Whenever you notice that voice, you will also realize that you are not the voice, but the one who is aware of it. In fact, you are the awareness that is aware of the voice. In the background, there is the awareness. In the foreground, there is the voice, the thinker. In this way you are becoming free of the ego, free of the unobserved mind.
Wherever you look, there is plenty of circumstantial evidence for the reality of time—a rotting apple, your face in the bathroom mirror compared with your face in a photo taken 30 years ago—yet you never find any direct evidence, you never experience time itself. You only ever experience the present moment.
Why do anxiety, stress, or negativity arise? Because you turned away from the present moment. And why did you do that? You thought something else was more important. One small error, one misperception, creates a world of suffering.
People believe themselves to be dependent on what happens for their happiness. They don’t realize that what happens is the most unstable thing in the universe. It changes constantly. They look upon the present moment as either marred by something that has happened and shouldn’t have or as deficient because of something that has not happened but should have. And so they miss the deeper perfection that is inherent in life itself, a perfection that lies beyond what is happening or not happening. Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is untouched by time.
The more shared past there is in a relationship, the more present you need to be; otherwise, you will be forced to relive the past again and again.
Equating the physical body with “I,” the body that is destined to grow old, wither, and die, always leads to suffering. To refrain from identifying with the body doesn’t mean that you no longer care for it. If it is strong, beautiful, or vigorous, you can appreciate those attributes—while they last. You can also improve the body’s condition through nutrition and exercise. If you don’t equate the body with who you are, when beauty fades, vigor diminishes, or the body becomes incapacitated, this will not affect your sense of worth or identity in any way. In fact, as the body begins to weaken, the light of consciousness can shine more easily.
You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you and allowing that goodness to emerge.
If peace is really what you want, then you will choose peace.
Exerpted from Oneness with All Life by Eckhart Tolle. Published by arrangement with Dutton, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copywright © 2008 by Eckhart Tolle
BAHA”I
THE PROGRESS OF THE SOUL
Q ‘Does the soul progress more through sorrow or through the joy in this
world?’
‘Abdu’l-Bahá.—‘The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by
suffering. The more the ground is ploughed the better the seed will grow,
the better the harvest will be. Just as the plough furrows the earth
deeply, purifying it of weeds and thistles, so suffering and tribulation
free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a
state of complete detachment. His attitude in this world will be that of
divine happiness. Man is, so to speak, unripe: the heat of the fire of
suffering will mature him. Look back to the times past and you will find
that the greatest men have suffered most.’
‘He who through suffering has attained development, should he fear
happiness?’
‘Abdu’l-Bahá.—‘Through suffering he will attain to an eternal happiness
which nothing can take from him. The apostles of Christ suffered: they
attained eternal happiness.’
‘Then it is impossible to attain happiness without suffering?’
‘Abdu’l-Bahá.—‘To attain eternal happiness one must suffer. He who has
reached the state of self-sacrifice has true joy. Temporal joy will
vanish.’
‘Can a departed soul converse with someone still on earth?’
‘Abdu’l-Bahá.—‘A conversation can be held, but not as our conversation.
There is no doubt that the forces of the higher worlds interplay with the
forces of this plane. The heart of man is open to inspiration; this is
spiritual communication. As in a dream one talks with a friend while the
mouth is silent, so is it in the conversation of the spirit. A man may
converse with the ego within him saying: “May I do this? Would it be
advisable for me to do this work?” Such as this is conversation with the
higher self.’
From the book PARIS TALKS by Abdu’l-Baha
Quotations Treasury - a sub-blog of Soul Needs - 'One Garden' 