Acquire Personal Power Through Self Development

Can we honestly assume that it is the "right" of a person to be happy?

Is it fair, reasonable, or even realistic to assume that we can escape the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" simply because we would really "like" to?

Whether or not happiness, or even the pursuit of happiness, is a right is perhaps a question for philosophers, but whether it is actually attainable by all of us is a question for all of us.

Most of us would argue that being "unhappy" is an unnatural state, common to the life path most of us find ourselves traveling. However, life is not always, or often, a fair and even process, and portions of it can contain events which can produce "unhappiness".

Whether it is "abnormal" or "unnatural", for most of us, unhappiness is a response, often a learned response.

Let's assume, that it is the natural right of every human being to be happy to escape all the miseries of life.

If this is so, then happiness is the normal condition, as natural as the landscapes we love and the seasons so familiar to us. It is unnatural to suffer and it is only because of our ignorance that we do suffer.

Happiness should be the product of wisdom. To attain perfect wisdom, to comprehend fully the purpose of life, to realize completely the relationship of human beings to each other, is to put an end to all suffering, to escape every ill and evil that afflicts us. Perfect wisdom is pure joy.

What are the reasons we sometimes suffer in life?

Because, it is a natural event that we are forced to move forward, or, at least, "otherward", in evolution and we humans lack, as yet, the intellectual or spiritual illumination that can light our way along the path. It is the natural movement of evolution and our ability to recover from upsets which are what enables us to move safely among the obstacles that lie before us.

Being human, we are not perfect, and, sometimes we do not even see or suspect the presence of trouble until it suddenly leaps upon us out of some unsuspected hiding place. One day our personal circle of family and friends may be complete and happy. A week later illness, devastation, or, even death, has come and gone and joy replaced with grief and suffering.

Today we have a friend who is special to us. Within days, even hours, he may become an enemy, and we do not know why.

We may have had personal wealth and material luxuries. Suddenly, something changed, and, suddenly and surprisingly, we seem to have only poverty and misery. It is natural that we seek, often in vain, for a reason why this should be.

In fact, this exact scenario happened to me just a few years ago, and I had no better answer then, than perhaps you do now.

Perhaps you once had health and strength; but, as time has passed, they have departed and you do not understand why.

There are many "great" tragedies of life, but there are also so many other events of lesser consequence which continually bring us the little miseries and minor heartaches with which we deal daily. The first step, obviously, is to create a strong desire to avoid them, but, unfortunately, we oftentimes never see them until they strike us...usually blundering into them in the darkness of our ignorance. As a camper in a dark wood at night, we lack is the personal illumination that will enable us to look around, finding, and, hopefully avoiding, the hidden causes of human suffering, and, revealing some method by which they may be avoided...as our figurative camper may see a path in the light from his lantern.

If we can find that means of illumination, our path through the forest of life can become more comfortable, faster, and even safer!

It is as though we must pass through that dark woods which is filled with hollows and fallen trees, which are indiscriminately scattered about. In the darkness our progress is slow and painful, and our bruises many...and from many sources. But, if we could simply find a lantern to light our way, we could then make that journey quickly and with at least some higher level of safety and comfort.

Our standard way of learning was to store our minds with as many facts, or what we supposed to be facts, as could be accumulated. We used this knowledge, and the passage of the waters of time, to give a certain exterior polish to our personality. The theory was that, when a man was born, to make him a completed human being was to load him up with information that would be used with more or less skill, according to the native ability he happened to be born with, and the methods of living he had learned from his family and the society in which he found himself.

The theosophical [religious philosophy] idea, on the other hand, has long been that, the physical man, and all that constitutes his life in the physical world, is only a partial expression of the self. It assumes that, in the ego of each there is potentially unlimited power and wisdom, and that these may be brought through to visible manifestation in the physical world as the physical body and its invisible counterparts, which together constitute the complex vehicle of the ego's manifestation, evolve and adapt to the purposes of life. Theosophical proponents believe that this will be in proportion to the amount of conscious effort given to self-development. Through these paths, spiritual illumination will be achieved and wisdom attained.

In this way, to this point of view, the light source that illuminates the pathway to happiness is kindled from within, and the evolutionary journey that all are making may bring less suffering and greater personal fulfillment.

The answer to another question, "Why does death bring misery?" would do much to illuminate our passage through the trails and pathways of life.

One major reason we fear death is because it separates us from those we love. The other major reason why death brings grief or fear, is because we do not understand it and fully comprehend whatever part it plays in human evolution. Many find that, when this ignorance gives way to comprehension, these fears vanish, and, for many, is replaced by happiness takes.

Why do we make enemies who wound us with their words and acts?

In our limited physical consciousness and ability we do not recognize the unity of all life. Because of this, we cannot realize that our wrong thinking and doing often comes back to us through other people.

Some call this, "Karma".

This is a situation from which the most effective escape is by no longer thinking evil of others, and then patiently awaiting the time when the negative karma we have already generated are fully exhausted. When our personal spiritual illumination arrives, and we no longer stumble in the night of ignorance, the last enemy will disappear, and, hopefully, we shall make no more forever. However, sometimes the evil in the minds and hearts of others, generally who do not understand us, still allows for the creation of enemies despite our best efforts

Why must people experience poverty and disease?

Probably as with so many other ills which befall us, our tendency to move blindly through life with a certain degree of ignorance tends to cause the existence of these two evils. I recently watched several videos in which people concentrating on their cell phones walked into things, including one lady who walked right into a rather large pool of water that was obviously in her path. Police officers speak of the Cooper Color Codes, and adopting an attitude of Situational Awareness, when advising professionals and "civilians" on how to avoid "bad things".

If we had the personal wisdom, or some tool, to help us observe, prepare, and strive for achievement, we would have the potential of avoiding, at the minimum, extreme poverty, and many potential illnesses.

And so it goes. When it comes to almost any form of suffering we experience, we are, if not to blame, at least creators of our own circumstances.

Many of the ills we humans are heir to arise from our ignorance, and a failure to learn to recognize that, to be lived well, life must be lived proactively and with purpose. There are many who can instruct us, and, with the help of these instructors and our own willingness to learn and apply their teachings and guidance, we can absolve ourselves of the blame for evils which befall us.

As Shakespeare had Julius Caesar say, "Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars. But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

Take the time and make the effort to learn, and apply, sensible lessons for life, and you will see many of life's ills fade away.

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