Chapter 9.

BEYOND HAPPINESS AND UNHAPPINESS THERE IS

PEACE

The Higher Good Beyond Good And Bad

Is there a difference between happiness and inner peace?
Yes. Happiness depends on conditions being perceived as positive; inner peace
does not.
Is it not possible to attract only positive conditions into our life? If our attitude and
our thinking are always positive, we would manifest only positive events and
situations, wouldn't we?
Do you truly know what is positive and what is negative? Do you have the total
picture? There have been many people for whom limitation, failure, loss, illness, or
pain in whatever form turned out to be their greatest teacher. It taught them to let
go of false self-images and superficial ego-dictated goals and desires. It gave them
depth, humility, and compassion. It made them more real.
Whenever anything negative happens to you, there is a deep lesson concealed
within it, although you may not see it at the time. Even a brief illness or an accident
can show you what is real and unreal in your life, what ultimately matters and
what doesn't.
Seen from a higher perspective, conditions are always positive. To be more
precise: they are neither positive nor negative. They are as they are. And when you
live in complete acceptance of what is - which is the only sane way to live - there is
no "good" or "bad" in your life anymore. There is only a higher good - which
includes the "bad." Seen from the perspective of the mind, however, there is good-
bad, like-dislike, love-hate. Hence, in the Book of Genesis, it is said that Adam and
Eve were no longer allowed to dwell in "paradise" when they "ate of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil."
This sounds to me like denial and self-deception. When something dreadful happens
to me or someone close to me - accident, illness, pain of some kind or death - I can
pretend that it isn't bad, but the fact remains that it is bad, so why deny it?
You are not pretending anything. You are allowing it to be as it is, that's all. This
"allowing to be" takes you beyond the mind with its resistance patterns that
create the positive-negative polarities. It is an essential aspect of forgiveness.
Forgiveness of the present is even more important than forgiveness of the past. If
you forgive every moment - allow it to be as it is - then there will be no
accumulation of resentment that needs to be forgiven at some later time.
Remember that we are not talking about happiness here. For example, when a loved
one has just died, or you feel your own death approaching, you cannot be happy. It
is impossible. But you can be at peace. There may be sadness and tears, but
provided that you have relinquished resistance, underneath the sadness you will feel a
deep serenity, a stillness, a sacred presence. This is the emanation of Being, this is
inner peace, the good that has no opposite.
What if it is a situation that I can do something about? How can I allow it to be and
change it at the same time?
Do what you have to do. In the meantime, accept what is. Since mind and resistance
are synonymous, acceptance immediately frees you from mind dominance and
thus reconnects you with Being. As a result, the usual ego motivations for "doing"
- fear, greed, control, defending or feeding the false sense of self - will cease to
operate. An intelligence much greater than the mind is now in charge, and so a
different quality of consciousness will flow into your doing.
It seems that most people need to experience a great deal of suffering before they will
relinquish resistance and accept - before they will forgive. As soon as they do, one of
the greatest miracles happens: the awakening of Being-consciousness through
what appears as evil, the transmutation of suffering into inner peace Through
forgiveness, which essentially means recognizing the insubstantiality of the past
and allowing the present moment to be as it is, the miracle of transformation
happens not only within but also without. A silent space of intense presence arises
both in you and around you. Whoever or whatever enters that field of consciousness
will be affected by it, sometimes visibly and immediately, sometimes at deeper levels
with visible changes appearing at a later time. You dissolve discord, heal pain,
dispel unconsciousness – without doing anything - simply by being and holding
that frequency of intense presence.

The End Of Your Life Drama

In that state of acceptance and inner peace, even though you may not call it "bad, "
can anything still come into your life that would be called "bad" from a perspective
of ordinary consciousness?
Most of the so-called bad things that happen in people's lives are due to
unconsciousness. They are self created, or rather ego-created. I sometimes refer to
those things as "drama." When you are fully conscious, drama does not come into
your life anymore. Let me remind you briefly how the ego operates and how it
creates drama.
Ego is the unobserved mind that runs your life when you are not present as the
witnessing consciousness, the watcher. The ego perceives itself as a separate
fragment in a hostile universe, with no real inner connection to any other being,
surrounded by other egos which it either sees as a potential threat or which it will
attempt to use for its own ends. The basic ego patterns are designed to combat its
own deepseated fear and sense of lack. They are resistance, control, power, greed,
defense, attack. Some of the ego's strategies are extremely clever, yet they never
truly solve any of its problems, simply because the ego itself is the problem.
Furthermore, many types of illness are caused by the ego's continuous resistance,
which creates restrictions and blockages in the flow of energy through the body.
When you reconnect with Being and are no longer run by your mind, you cease to
create those things. You do not create or participate in drama anymore.
Whenever two or more egos come together, drama of one kind or another ensues.
But even if you live totally alone, you still create your own drama. When you feel
sorry for yourself, that's drama. When you feel guilty or anxious, that's drama.
When you let the past or future obscure the present, you are creating time,
psychological time -
All suffering is ego-created and is due to resistance.
Your physical energy is also subject to cycles. It cannot always be at a peak. There
will be times of low as well as high energy. There will be periods when you are
highly active and creative, but there may also be times when everything seems
stagnant, when it seems that you are not getting anywhere, not achieving anything.
A cycle can last for anything from a few hours to a few years. There are large cycles
and small cycles within these large ones. Many illnesses are created through
fighting against the cycles of low energy, which are vital for regeneration. The
compulsion to do, and the tendency to derive your sense of self worth and identity
from external factors such as achievement, is an inevitable illusion as long as you
are identified with the mind. This makes it hard or impossible for you to accept the
low cycles and allow them to be. Thus, the intelligence of the organism may take
over as a self protective measure and create an illness in order to force you to stop,
so that the necessary regeneration can take place.
The Buddha taught that even your happiness is dukkha -a Pali word meaning
"suffering" or "unsatisfactoriness." It is inseparable from its opposite. This means
that your happiness and unhappiness are in fact one. Only the illusion of time
separates them.
This is not being negative. It is simply recognizing the nature of things, so that you
don't pursue an illusion for the rest of your life.
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Nor is it saying that you should no longer appreciate pleasant or beautiful things or
conditions. But to seek something through them that they cannot give - an
identity, a sense of permanency and fulfillment - is a recipe for frustration and
suffering
Nothing out there will ever satisfy you except temporarily and superficially, but
you may need to experience many disillusionrnents before you realize that truth.
Things and conditions can give you pleasure, but they will also give you pain.
Things and conditions can give you pleasure, but they cannot give you joy. Nothing
can give you joy. Joy is uncaused and arises from within as the joy of Being. It is
an essential part of the inner state of peace, the state that has been called the peace of
God. It is your natural state, not something that you need to work hard for or
struggle to attain. Many people never realize that there can be no "salvation'' in
anything they do, possess, or attain. Those who do realize it often become world-
weary and depressed: if nothing can give you true fulfillment, what is there left to
strive for, what is the point in anything? When you reach this point, you are one
step away from despair - and one step away from enlightenment.
A Buddhist monk once told me: 'All I have learned in the twenty years that I have
been a monk I can sum up in one sentence: All that arises passes away. This I
know." What he meant, of course, was this: To offer no resistance to life is to be in a
state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon
things being in a certain way, good or bad. It seems almost paradoxical, yet when
your inner dependency on form is gone, the general conditions of your life, the
outer forms, tend to improve greatly. Things, people, or conditions that you thought
you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your
part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them - while they last. All those things,
of course, will still pass away, cycles will come and go, but with dependency gone
there is no fear of loss anymore. Life flows with ease.
The happiness that is derived from some secondary source is never very deep. It is
only a pale reflection of the joy of Being, the vibrant peace that you find within as
you enter the state of nonresistance. Being takes you beyond the polar opposites of
the mind and frees you from dependency on form. Even if everything were to col-
I have learned to offer no resistance to what is; I have learned to allow the present
moment to be and to accept the impermanent nature of all things and conditions.
Thus have I found peace. You may not be happy, but you will be at peace.

Using And Relinquishing Negativity

All inner resistance is experienced as negativity in one form or another. All
negativity is resistance. The ego believes that through negativity it can
manipulate reality and get what it wants. It believes that through it, it can attract
a desirable condition or dissolve an undesirable one. A Course in Miracles rightly
points out that, whenever you are unhappy, there is the unconscious belief that the
unhappiness "buys" you what you want. If "you' - the mind - did not believe that
unhappiness works, why would you create it? The fact is, of course, that
negativity does not work. Instead of attracting a desirable condition, it stops it
from arising. Instead of dissolving an undesirable one, it keeps it in place. Its
only "useful" function is that it strengthens the ego, and that is why the ego loves
it.
Once you have identified with some form of negativity, you do not want to let go,
and on a deeply unconscious level, you do not want positive change. It would
threaten your identity as a depressed, angry, or hard-done-by person. You will
then ignore, deny or sabotage the positive in your life. This is a common
phenomenon. It is also insane.
Negativity is totally unnatural. It is a psychic pollutant, and there is a deep link
between the poisoning and destruction of nature and the vast negativity that has
accumulated in the collective human psyche. No other life form on the planet
knows negativity, only humans, just as no other life form violates and poisons the
Earth that sustains it. Have you ever seen an unhappy flower or a stressed oak tree?
Have you come across a depressed dolphin, a frog that has a problem with self-
esteem, a cat that cannot relax, or a bird that carries hatred and resentment? The only
animals that may occasionally experience something akin to negativity or show
signs of neurotic behavior are those that live in close contact with humans and so
link into the human mind and its insanity.
Watch any plant or animal and let it teach you acceptance of what is.
Couldn't a negative emotion also contain an important message? For example, if I
often feel depressed, it may be a signal that there is something wrong with my life,
and it may force me to look at my life situation and make some changes. So I need to
listen to what the emotion is telling me and not just dismiss it as negative.
Yes, recurring negative emotions do sometimes contain a message, as do
illnesses. But any changes that you make, whether they have to do with your work,
your relationships, or your surroundings, are ultimately only cosmetic unless they
arise out of a change in your level of consciousness . And as far as that is
concerned, it can only mean one thing: becoming more present. When you have
reached a certain degree of presence, you don't need negativity anymore to tell
you what is needed in your life situation. But as long as negativity is there, use it.
Use it as a kind of signal that reminds you to be more present .
How do we stop negativity from arising, and how do we get rid of it once it is there?
As I said, you stop it from arising by being fully present . But don't become
discouraged. There are as yet few people on the planet who can sustain a state of
continuous presence, although some are getting close to it. Soon, I believe, there
will be many more.
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Whenever you notice that some form of negativity has arisen within you, look on it
not as a failure, but as a helpful signal that is telling you: "Wake up. Get out of
your mind. Be present."
Suddenly, there is the penetrating sound of a car alarm from across the street.
Irritation arises. What is the purpose of the irritation? None whatsoever. Why did
you create it? You didn't. The mind did. It was totally automatic, totally
unconscious. Why did the mind create it? Because it holds the unconscious belief
that its resistance, which you experience as negativity or unhappiness in some form,
will somehow dissolve the undesirable condition. This, of course, is a delusion. The
resistance that it creates, the irritation or anger in this case, is far more disturbing
than the original cause that it is attempting to dissolve. But that person no longer
has the power to control your inner state. You are then in your power - not in
someone else's, nor are you run by your mind.
I have been practicing meditation, I have been to workshops, I have read many books
on spirituality, I try to be in a state of nonresistance - but if you ask me whether I
have found true and lasting inner peace, my honest answer would have to be "no."
Why haven't I found it? What else can I do?
You are still seeking outside, and you cannot get out of the seeking mode. Maybe
the next workshop will have the answer, maybe that new technique. To you I would
say. Don't look for peace. Don't look for any other state than the one you are in
now, otherwise, you will set up inner conflict and unconscious resistance. Forgive
yourself for not being at peace. The moment you completely accept your non-peace,
your nonpeace becomes transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will get
you there, will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender. You may have
heard the phrase "turn the other cheek,"
The Nature Of Compassion
So, when confronted with someone else's suffering or unconscious behavior, you
stay present and in touch with Being and are thus able to look beyond the form
and feel the other person's radiant and pure Being through your own. At the level
of Being, all suffering is recognized as an illusion. Suffering is due to
identification with form. Miracles of healing sometimes occur through this
realization, by awakening Being-consciousness in others - if they are ready.
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When you are fully present and people around you manifest unconscious
behavior, you won't feel the need to react to it, so you don't give it any reality.
Your peace is so vast and deep that anything that is not peaceful dis-appears into it
as if it had never existed. This breaks the karmic cycle of action and reaction.
Animals, trees, flowers will feel your peace and respond to it. You teach through
being, through demonstrating the peace of God. You become the "light of the
world," an emanation of pure consciousness, and so you eliminate suffering on the
level of cause. You eliminate unconsciousness from the world. All evils are the effect
of unconsciousness. You can alleviate the effects of unconsciousness, but you
cannot eliminate them unless you eliminate their cause. True change happens
within, not without. Without a profound change in human consciousness, the
world's suffering is a bottomless pit. So don't let your compassion become one-
sided (also have Compassion for yourself). Empathy with someone else's pain or
lack and a desire to help need to be balanced with a deeper realization of the
eternal nature of all life and the ultimate illusion of all pain. This also applies if
you are supporting a movement designed to stop deeply unconscious humans from
destroying themselves, each other, and the planet, or from continuing to inflict
dreadful suffering on other sentient beings. Remember: Just as you cannot fight the
darkness, so you cannot fight unconsciousness. If you try to do so, the polar
opposites will become strengthened and more deeply entrenched. You will become
identified with one of the polarities, you will create an "enemy," and so be drawn
into unconsciousness yourself. Raise awareness by disseminating information, or at
the most, practice passive resistance. But make sure that you carry no resistance
within, no hatred, no negativity. "
Once you get involved in working on the level of effect, it is all too easy to lose
yourself in it. Stay alert and very, very present. The causal level needs to remain
your primary focus, the teaching of enlightenment your main purpose, and peace
your most precious gift to the world.