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The concept of happiness as evolved considerably over the centuries, but it has disappeared in Europe during the long period of Christianity. It is only since 1945, at the end of World War II, that the research and search for happiness took off.
Everyone seeks happiness, but what is “happiness”?
Does happiness slip on like a standard size garment?
Is it dependent on our genetics?
To know happiness, must we acquire wealth or live like a penniless hermit?
Or is happiness simply a fantasy that we seek but can never reach?
For some people, happiness is the absence of unhappiness. For others, happiness seems to be based more on a balance of three fundamental needs: basic (clothing, food, and shelter), emotional, and spiritual needs.
What is certain is that when happiness dwells in a person, age, sex, physical appearance, education, and intellectual level do not seem to be factors.
Moving away from one’s old habits to finally become oneself is certainly a favorable step towards happiness. Taking the time to feel, to feel with all our senses, to discover, to offer, to develop benevolence towards ourselves and others; these are acts that most certainly lead to creating feelings of happiness.
We often talk about the smile of the Buddha. This smile (from the small statuettes) is far from representing a selfish egocentric person. The smile of Buddha is rather the expression of an altruistic love. His smile reflects “unconditional benevolence, born of the wish that all beings, without exception, find happiness and cultivate the source for happiness: wisdom, inner freedom and compassion, and to be free from suffering – hatred, obsessive desire, arrogance, jealousy.” *Smile like Buddha, Joseph Emet.
Maitreya Rael in Contact 362 goes further in his teaching.
“Happiness is an ongoing, long term discipline of every day and every second. It begins whit a smile! Smile before you open your eyes in the morning. You maintain your smile during each little task and activities that follows throughout the day. Keep practicing! The most perilous in life are the serious people! We are surrounded by these people, policemen, journalists, TV news anchors, they are all profoundly serious. A child is never serious, but education molds him into a serious robot. Go back to that little child in you. Be crazy and playful.”
When we are happy, we are healthier and stronger. The body chemistry improves, blood pressure and heart rate decrease. Happy people live longer and have a more robust immune system. That is what University of British Columbia researcher and psychology professor Mark Holder – nicknamed the “Doctor of Happiness” – is able to demonstrate. (Psychologies Review, November 2017)
“If you decide to be happy, you’ll be happy. The fool says “When I will be happy, I will smile.” The wise man says “I will smile to be happy.” Smile if you want to be happy!” Rael, Contact 341
Lyliane Jolly
Columnist for the Raelian Movement