Photograph by the author
Relationship and satisfaction arrive as a result of my alignment with God’s will and purpose, which may not be expressible in words, but take up residence in the body and in the Being and in the feeling in a way that cannot be comprehended by the intellect.
The intellect can observe; the intellect can participate; but the intellect does not have the skill or the insight necessary to create these conditions.
What does create the inner conditions is another question; but it certainly isn’t outer events. So if I expect happiness to come from listening to a great song, or falling in love, or making some extra money or eating some good food, I can agree that this is the case; but only to the extent that it creates temporal happiness, which is highly subjective and completely subject to the whims and circumstances of life as it happens. It isn’t real happiness; it’s temporary happiness.
Spiritual happiness, on the other hand, is objective happiness.
It penetrates throughout the entire realm of the soul and all of its awareness; it comes from God and acts within us. Perhaps it’s asking too much to live life as though this were the kind of happiness that mattered; yet I find it far more central to the question of life. Within the context of my ordinary and outward life, there’s no doubt, I am happy or unhappy from moment to moment; yet that never seems to be where life is primarily located to me.
My true happiness arises from where life arises; from the condition of my soul and not the circumstances of my life. Although I may need to remind myself of that from time to time when life begins to appear overwhelming, I’ll never forget it for as long as I am in relationship with the higher energy of God’s Grace.
As a consequence of this, when people ask me if I’m happy, I’m never quite sure what to say. Do I try to explain to them that it is only within the condition of Grace itself that true peace of the soul can become available? Folks would find this tiresome rather quickly. Maybe even instantly.
So I try to say as little as possible about having a relationship with God, unless someone asks about it.
It’s a sign of the times that hardly anyone ever asks about this. Now, it’s true, folks in the Gurdjieff work ask about it; but outside of that context, having a real inner relationship with God is of almost no interest to anyone.
Wishing the best for you on this day,
Lee
Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.
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