Misery loves company
We live in a miserable world because we are miserable. We are the world and misery is our own fiction, our own creation. Of course, there are facts of misery — natural disasters, widespread poverty, disease etc. But there is always something to do about it. But there’s another misery, deeper misery, which is purely psychological.
Our mind is responsible for it. It creates misery for itself and is busy creating misery for others, knowingly or unknowingly. It is a habit and we are slave to it. The 19th century philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote: “Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so.”
You are happy and blissful, and suddenly doubt creeps in: “Why am I happy?” There are moments when one is just happy, no reason at all. In such moments of purity, the mind starts playing games; it starts looking for reasons and spoils the whole thing. One starts imagining and imagination has no limit — it will touch the other extreme of unhappiness. As God created the world out of nothing, we are also God-like — we create misery out of nothing.
There’s so much to choose in life, specially the positive things. But people choose pessimism and make it their art of living.
A research has shown that people who are highly successful are, in large part, more resilient in the face of defeats, setbacks and disappointments of various kinds. Miserable people magnify their problems and ignore the simple solutions because clinging onto misery gives them some identity in the eyes of others.
Miserable people are good at attracting your attention. It is a fact that the people who are most fulfilled in life surround themselves with mutually supportive friendships; pessimistic people surround themselves with gloomy people. Attention is nourishment both for happiness and misery. Unhappy people do not involve other happy people in their joint ventures. They isolate themselves, are self-absorbed and their personality becomes a life-long imprisonment.
There is a way of ending this misery. The solution is not some psychological analysis for many years. Meditation offers existential solution. Meditation unleashes joy and creativity.
Osho said: “Be happy, respect happiness and help people to understand that happiness is the goal of life — satchitanand. The Eastern mystics have said God has three qualities. He is sat: truth; He is chit: consciousness, awareness; And, ultimately, the highest peak is anand: bliss. Wherever bliss is, God is. Whenever you see a blissful person, respect him for he is holy. And wherever you feel a gathering which is blissful, festive, think of it as a sacred place.”
We have to learn a totally new language, a language of health, wholeness, and happiness. Misery needs no talents and anybody can afford it. Happiness needs talent, genius and creativity. Only creative people are happy. Create something and you will be happy. Create a garden, let it bloom, and something will bloom in you, too.
Swami Chaitanya Keerti, editor of Osho World, is the author of Osho Fragrance
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