Thread: What it means to be truly happy

Nothing really matters besides that, because whatever is out there, however the universe works, it just is, and I am a part of it, and thats all that really matters. When I reach this state I experience the most overwhelming sense of well-being and fullness, identical to the well-being I've experienced in the past on psychedelics.

How did you reach this state?

Personally, I tried all this for quite some time and only managed to achieve rapture once during meditation (first or second jhana) which lasted about 5 minutes. It was a completely unexplainable joy. Other than that, through mindfulness I was only ever able to achieve great control over my mind and thoughts. This did not lead to "happiness", rather complacency.

I am no monk, but in my experience this method does not lead to happiness unless one decides to devote themselves to a legend called "Nirvana", which would require your life to even find out if it is true.

Personally, having been through the mindfulness approach for some time, I prefer emotion, desire, passion, and all the human qualities that most forms of Buddhism attempt to quench. I believe desire should be purified, not eradicated. I believe we have emotions for a good reason. Meh, I could go on forever and bore you, but I won't.

All in all, Meditation and mindfulness are GREAT tools for improving ones mental abilities. I can conquer almost anything with meditation, but to go beyond that and deny one's own humanity I think is overdoing it, but to each his own. In the end, without reason, mindfulness meditation would not be effective in the first place. It is a self-regulating practice, so there is no danger involved, just don't be too quick to accept the teachings of Buddhism as fact. Do your own exploration. I just find it very hard to believe that you achieved true happiness in two weeks. It seems that you are just excited for the moment at new prospects; just don't be too hasty.

Of course human existance and suffering is also a part of the working of this universe, and happiness or contentment is not any more "natural" than pain and suffering.

Originally Posted by Never

How did you reach this state?

Personally, I tried all this for quite some time and only managed to achieve rapture once during meditation (first or second jhana) which lasted about 5 minutes. It was a completely unexplainable joy. Other than that, through mindfulness I was only ever able to achieve great control over my mind and thoughts. This did not lead to "happiness", rather complacency.

I am no monk, but in my experience this method does not lead to happiness unless one decides to devote themselves to a legend called "Nirvana", which would require your life to even find out if it is true.

All in all, Meditation and mindfulness are GREAT tools for improving ones mental abilities. I can conquer almost anything with meditation, but to go beyond that and deny one's own humanity I think is overdoing it, but to each his own. In the end, without reason, mindfulness meditation would not be effective in the first place. It is a self-regulating practice, so there is no danger involved, just don't be too quick to accept the teachings of Buddhism as fact. Do your own exploration. I just find it very hard to believe that you achieved true happiness in two weeks. It seems that you are just excited for the moment at new prospects; just don't be too hasty.

Its more of a realization then a meditation. Once you've made the realization, it doesn't really go away.

Of course, in certain environments its hard to stay mindful. I'm not saying I'm in a state of bliss all of the time, its more like I'm content with just being here and existing, which in my mind is being happy.

I used to be an extremely depressed person, and there were very few moments when I was happy, and near to none when I was actually content with being alive. For me, being content is being happy. I'm not Buddhist at all, but I naturally believe in many Buddhist teachings, simply because they have worked for me. My first "moment of clarity" occurred when I was simply thinking about existence and life, and it just kind of clicked. I wasn't trying any kind of techniques, I was merely contemplating the nature of existence.

This newly found way of thinking has also greatly improved my meditation practice, and I've began reading a book called "The Essential Chogyam Trungpa", which is very appealing to me. I now understand many of the concepts in the book much better now.

Personally, having been through the mindfulness approach for some time, I prefer emotion, desire, passion, and all the human qualities that most forms of Buddhism attempt to quench. I believe desire should be purified, not eradicated. I believe we have emotions for a good reason. Meh, I could go on forever and bore you, but I won't.

I believe the same thing, that desire should be purified and not eradicated. Egolessness is something I do believe in however, but I don't think one should be in a state of egolessness all of the time. Its simply recognizing the illusions of the ego and overcoming them, in my opinion. It doesn't imply you have to completely eradicate your sense of self, or at least thats my personal belief anyways (as I said, I'm not Buddhist, I don't claim any religious preference).

When I first had this kind of realization about half a year ago, I wrote a lot and tried to find the right words. It was as if a veil was covering the world and was then lifted, but I just could not explain myself to anybody.

I went through something similar to this, wer, but trust me - it's just the first step. Integrating all of your experience and making your understanding (or mindfulness) continuous is what follows. It gets better as you progress - happiness is an understanding that is so clear and can't be disturbed no matter what the external conditions are. The spiritual family I identify with most is Buddhism, but one of its most important lessons is that you have to learn for yourself; this kind of development can't be housed by a school of thought - the purpose of which being to enable you to be your best teacher, not to limit your growth.

I think it would be great to be able to discuss our experiences and support each other's development. It's pretty rare to know someone about the same age whose at about the same level...I can't relate to any of my friends on this matter. I have a thread related to this (lucid living) you might want to check out: http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=43500

I've never reached any of the states in my life, meh.

You had to quit drugs to realize this? I had to do drugs to realize this. But, I've also quit recently... august 10th to be exact.

edit: you must have been doing drugs to cover pain or escape... I just did em cuz I simply like to.

I found I became happy once I decided "Fuck it, I don't need to be happy, it's just a feeling." I become less happy when I start getting attached to being hsppy again. I mean, it doesn't make me useless, quite the contrary, before that I used to think life was just too immense with too much to do and I didn't do anything at all, now I see there's nothing to do and I find myself doing all sorts of shit. If I tell myself I don't need to be happy suddenly I stop worrying about my state of affairs and comparing myself to past times or other people's lives. I just don't give a shit anymore, and in that lack of care I'm more confident, more aware, and over all I have a lot more fun.

Wow. Great post! Thank you for that...it is so true and most of humanity tend to forget this and get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life.

Mike Gartner

I've also come to an understanding, "elightenment" I believe, and I don't suffer anymore. I just made a thread explaining it. is this the same as what you feel? http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=43746

Originally Posted by Michael

You had to quit drugs to realize this? I had to do drugs to realize this. But, I've also quit recently... august 10th to be exact.

edit: you must have been doing drugs to cover pain or escape... I just did em cuz I simply like to.

I was doing drugs for all sorts of reasons, and yes, one of these reasons were to escape reality. Another reason was to gain consciousness expansion, but the thing about using drugs for that purpose is that it doesn't change you in the way meditation can. Drugs are shortcuts.

Originally Posted by mikeyfbi

Wow. Great post! Thank you for that...it is so true and most of humanity tend to forget this and get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life.

Mike Gartner

Thanks for reconizing it.

(man, my posts are so gay, and not just because there's always a picture of two guys kissing attached.)


no, seriously. I've since realized that true enlightenment, in the buddhist sense, is a little deeper, a little more complicated. but I do think I've taken a big step in the right direction...

anyway, since I got this new outlook on life, I have an intense desire to share it with other people. it's so simple, yet the majority of people out there don't know and understand it. I mean this is absolutely brilliant, and so simple, so why are so many people out there suffering? this simple little realization, I've applied to every aspect of life, and it works. I understand all kinds of things, like little sayings, and many other things, that I never understood before. TONS of things. I want to share it with everyone, too many people suffer and it's so easy to stop it. I want to write books.

Originally Posted by paperdoll

(man, my posts are so gay, and not just because there's always a picture of two guys kissing attached.)


no, seriously. I've since realized that true enlightenment, in the buddhist sense, is a little deeper, a little more complicated. but I do think I've taken a big step in the right direction...

anyway, since I got this new outlook on life, I have an intense desire to share it with other people. it's so simple, yet the majority of people out there don't know and understand it. I mean this is absolutely brilliant, and so simple, so why are so many people out there suffering? this simple little realization, I've applied to every aspect of life, and it works. I understand all kinds of things, like little sayings, and many other things, that I never understood before. TONS of things. I want to share it with everyone, too many people suffer and it's so easy to stop it. I want to write books.

I know exactly what your talking about, and I know exactly how you feel. Its wonderful.

I want to write books too .

nice post. your able to reach states identical to ones reached through drugs ? ? ? are you serious. any way one problem with loosing your ego and or enlightenment is it becomes realy realy hard to get a job, you will have to deal with jerks and your body will make the same defense mechinisms all over again, the ones you tried so hard to get rid of. atleast thats what happened to me.

Originally Posted by fairytale complex

nice post. your able to reach states identical to ones reached through drugs ? ? ? are you serious. any way one problem with loosing your ego and or enlightenment is it becomes realy realy hard to get a job, you will have to deal with jerks and your body will make the same defense mechinisms all over again, the ones you tried so hard to get rid of. atleast thats what happened to me.

Not identical. I'm only talking about the beneficial effects of drugs, which, when it comes down to it, is ego loss.

Yes. Its hard to deal with society once you've detached yourself from its blindness. I suppose you just have to learn how to deal with it.