“Trying to find answers from outside yourself is nonsense. You need to look inward.”
The Dalai Lama.

I have been to over 34 countries and have come into contact with some very amazing stuff. I have been exposed to powerful esoteric knowledge that explains how we work. I have listened to wise people explain the meaning of life. I have learned wonderful tools for being a better person.

But at the end of the day even these great things fall flat. The true power of being alive is inside me. It has no name, no affiliation, no description or similarity. It is completely unique. There is nothing like it outside in the world.

Only when I realized this was I truly happy. I searched so much, I tried so hard, I wished so badly that that philosophy, that political view, that belief, that way of acting, that perspective, that opinion, that system, that place, that person, that tool would be the solution to finding happiness. But sooner or later they failed me.

They would say I am not trying hard enough, not doing it right, not following the path faithfully, not in the right place, don’t understand enough, but that is all crap.

The truth is that I am much smarter than any system, religion or way. I know so much more. For me. Only I know what is right for me. And I need nothing to know that. It is right there inside me. In fact very often the outward structures get in the way of our inward discovery.

This is not to say all the external tools are useless. Otherwise we would all be feral children with no outside tools to interact with others. We need the systems, whether they are political, religious or otherwise to have complex societies.

But the individual needs nothing of that to be connected with themselves. And that is the only thing that really matters. All else is secondary by a long shot. Otherwise you are an empty vessel void of life. You might as well get a meaningless 9-5 job that pays to keep your body fed and wait for death.

So look inside. What do you see? It might be scary at first. But ultimately it is the most liberating thing you could ever do, both for yourself and the whole universe.

Tags: Dalai Lama, happiness, self-awareness

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 2:40 am and is filed under Self-help. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.