In most cases we are unhappy because of the
circumstances we are put in. And, in most cases, the circumstances we are put
in have our consent. It logically follows that our happiness always has our
consent. We do all sorts of things to get rid of our circumstances, except,
perhaps, withdrawing our express or tacit consent that landed us in the
circumstances that made us suffer, and then, settling in such a state.
The
disastrous consent that we grant to any or many painful circumstances might be
the outcome of our reactions to our earlier circumstances or our willingness to
enter into circumstances that we believed to give pleasure to us. Behind all
our consents or disapproval there are thoughts, mental ripples or merely a few
thoughtless desires. When we are unhappy, it rarely occurs to us to kill such
thoughts and desires that made us give consent to our actions that lead us to
adverse circumstances.
For
example, if a thought of ‘looking better than others’ allowed us to give consent
to all actions that helped us to look better than others, and, in the process,
we became unhappy; we rarely kill the thought of ‘looking better than others’;
instead, we try to find newer ways and means to look better than others and
make ourselves still more unhappy. If we think deep we would find that in most
cases, some thought or desire to discriminate one thing from another is always
there behind our unhappiness.
There
is much in common in lofty ideals of emancipation, eternal happiness or
freedom; and our day to day happy experiences filled with much enthusiasm much
needed for dealing with constructive affairs of life. If and when unhappy, one
must think about what made him give consent to his unhappiness and then,
withdraw that consent unceremoniously.
PROMOD KUMAR SHARMA
[The writer of this blog is also the author of “Mahatma A
Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious” and “In Search of Our Wonderful Words”.]
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