Philosophy of Happiness - Philosophy | Happiness | How to be happy

The Source of Everything is Emptiness. Emptiness is our nature. This Emptiness is unknowable, unseen, unmoved and unchanged. Emptiness is the only Reality. The Universe, as we know it, is manifestation of Emptiness. In essence, the Universe is a grand illusion, a Dream of Emptiness.

Now, you may ask, why Emptiness? Why not God, not Spirit, not Unconditional Love, not Uncaused Joy etc.? This cannot be proven; no more, no less than anything else can be. But I can give you indications and clues, and perhaps you will understand why.

There are many ways to find out this. I will give you a couple.

Have you ever been utterly satisfied? Have you ever been sick of getting everything you want, the way you want it and when you want it? If not, give yourself a treat; indulge yourself in everything you desperately wanted for so long, satisfy all your urgent desires, if only for a while. Then you may realise that all striving and achieving is worthless and senseless, and what is more, you suddenly realise there is no meaning in it all. In this state all desires and things in general stop bothering you; your mind is clear and it feels as if you lost your mind in something immeasurably bigger and more powerful than itself. At that time you will come to experience the Emptiness. This is a "place" where you can rest and recuperate from the heaviness and misery of life. This is the inner way to your Home.

There is also the outer way. Ask yourself: "What constitutes the visible matter?"

The ancient Greeks believed that all bodies consisted of elementary (indivisible) particles, which they called atoms. However, many centuries later, the scientists have discovered that the atom is not indivisible and actually consists of a nucleus and electrons. The nucleus itself consists of protons and neutrons, which in turn are made up of quarks. The electron is a member of another class of elementary particles called leptons. According to the contemporary nuclear physicists, quarks and leptons are considered to be the basic (indivisible) constituents of any matter in the Universe. But is that so? Only time will tell. After all, just over a century ago both the atom and the nucleus were also considered indivisible...

Besides the visible matter there is truly invisible matter in the Universe. That matter penetrates all living and inanimate substance incessantly and is a gas of rapidly moving particles - electron neutrino. Electron neutrino is a unique particle in the sense that it is believed to have a zero mass! But how can something (a particle) have no mass? Is this something really something at all, or is it simply nothing?

Now, if you go in the opposite direction by considering gigantic objects such as planets and stars, you discover that the relative amount of matter in Universe is negligibly small compared to the empty space. In fact, mathematically speaking, because the Universe is believed to be infinite, the amount of matter in relation to the empty space tends toward zero! Thus, no matter which way you go, either into the microscopic depths of the matter, down to the tiniest known elementary particles, or towards the unfathomable and elusive "edge" of the Universe, you come across the same paradox: that matter really seems to consist of nothing! In other words, matter is really not a substance of any kind, but an emptiness appearing as something in a mysterious and incomprehensible way.

This is the great mystery of the world, and all I can say it must be beyond the mind.

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