Something To Believe In

It's not easy to find something to believe in these days. There is so much information on the internet that whatever we believe in can be very effectively debunked in a heartbeat, leaving us with doubts at best, and at worst; total disbelief.

But we can't seem to function as human beings without some kind of a belief, something that is greater than we are, because we know what we are, and it isn't that much. So we go through life hanging our hat on this or that. Maybe it's another person at some point, or a job, maybe an interest or hobby (a Harley?), maybe a religion or discipline. Whatever it is, (if we are intelligent and inquisitive) it only seems to peak our interest for little awhile before we are back into our cynical, disbelieving state of mind.

Something changed; either we changed and grew weary of whatever it was that captivated us for a moment, or whatever captivated us for a moment changed, and we became justifiably disenchanted. But we psychologically only allow ourselves to become disenchanted for a little while before the pain becomes so great that we grasp at another curiosity, and again hang our hat on what we believe will save us from the reality of the shallowness of ourselves. n So this is our cycle, and it never changes. This is what we do throughout our entire lifetime. New cars, new towns, new people, new . . . whatever. We disregard the old, and grasp at the new. Or, when we get old, maybe we find ourselves grasping at the old, and fearing the new! Our dreary lives consist of nothing more than grasping at some things and pushing away others.

This constant pushing away and pulling toward, keeps our minds busy, it keeps our minds stuck in an endless, illusive quest for happiness. The moment we feel the least bit unhappy, we change things up. This is our problem solving mechanism, this is what sums up our actions, hence; this represents our personal karma, and our personal karma not only sets us up for what we will be doing tomorrow, but what we will be doing in countless future lifetimes.

It never occurs to us that we are in an endless, vicious cycle. Is this what we really want to do forever? Perhaps when things are going good we do, but we soon forget how things that went good before, eventually went bad, and why is that? What happened to them?

The hint of breaking this cycle is in the area that seldom makes itself known to us because we are too busy desperately trying to satisfy our need for happiness, relaxation, and ease. This little known area is the place where we find ourselves just after the last adventure fades, and the new one takes off. It's a kind of alien existence, where we are quite miserable, and possibly despondent. The exact place where creativity takes place.

Consider for a moment what would happen if, after your current amusement fizzles, you didn't jump at the first avenue of escape. What if you actually sat still through the discontent and did nothing to solve it, other than observe it? Isn't this a unique idea! Isn't this something to try?

This, however, requires, an overview of mind, which means that instead of completely becoming immersed in feelings and thoughts, you actually consider the state of mind that you are in, which is a state of discontentment. This is quite an advancement from normal consciousness, where we just follow the mind . . . mindlessly! Now we are a little bit in control of our minds for the first time, and what happens is that we don't jump at the first excuse for escape as we have in the past. This time we are beginning to get a handle on our recurring discontent, and are beginning to find a permanent way out that we can count on.

What we are doing here is no less than meditation. This means that we are taking a broad overview and approaching life in a new, unique way, instead of the standard lock-step approach that we have taken before. This time we remain in our discontent and explore it rather than fearfully run from it. This time we breathe a little freedom into our habitual patterns of attempted escapes, and this time we learn a lot about ourselves that we never knew before.

This time, we touch a happiness that lies beyond the transient happiness that we have experienced in the past. This time the discontent is different. This is the self-induced discontent that leads to permanent contentedness; the one that leads to freedom.

And this is something that we finally can believe in. n