Life is all lessons…ignorance is not a destiny…
There’s a question in my mind I long to resolve. It involves the validity of my commonly held aspirations in life. In my wanting to attain what I think is the ultimate state of being, I end up faced with contradictions. What I once perceived to be lofty has reduced itself into a mirage.
I have long been aware of the longings of man. Irrespective of time and place, humans have wanted to achieve three highly revered aspirations for which the state of absoluteness is believed to be possible. The beckoning of this sweet promise leads many into believing the veracity of its claim. But fate has its own rules, and this makes void the very essence of these venerated assumptions. I felt disappointment in finding this truth. But I must accept this fact because therein lies the most meaningful pursuit in life.
What are these highly revered aspirations I’m taking about?
Most, if not all, aspire to attain the absolutes of happiness, prosperity and peace of mind. Unfortunately, life goes perpendicular in terms of permanence with these states of existence. The more we want to make them lasting, the more temporary they get. Let me explain why this has been.
The pursuit of happiness is one of the perceived absolutes man wishes to achieve. Who does not want to be happy anyway? We love the feeling of not having any worries and fear; comfort and complacency is the experience we want for keeps. Any form of discomfort like pain, struggle, misery and sadness are immediately swept under the mat. Lots have been written on how to achieve lasting happiness, but few have elucidated about its true nature. I am then forced to ask: Is happiness permanent and lasting in this life? Much as I want to give a positive response, the reality of life proves to the detriment of this expectation. Life will not always favor happiness in each moments of our existence; it will always be temporary and never lasting. Happiness has a duration of its own, once it has exhausted its flame, it will loose its influence. It needs to be spawned again, but this process is the one we do not try to understand. Being happy is just one of the state of our being, there are others upon which we should embrace. Putting it in the words of Picasso:
“Everything exists in limited quantity – especially happiness.”
The source of happiness comes from our experience of adversity—and our triumph from it. Therefore, one must understand the necessity of experiencing this requisite. There’s a time to weep and a time to laugh. Happiness cannot be without struggle. We should never think of adversities as misfortunes, rather, we should take it as part of the overall workings of life—the threads upon which happiness is weaved. Though we may not want to partake in this distressing experience, life will always enforce it as an ideal condition of existence, without which other experiences will not be possible.
Another aspired state of existence is peace of mind. Everyone wished this most sought state of being. But like happiness, it is also ephemeral. I believe that our minds cannot be appeased because it is its nature to agitate even the subtlest ripple on its complacency. No matter how much we try to calm our minds, it has a life of its own, and until we emancipate from it, we can never truly find peace—which can only be achieved in the spiritual realm. Some of us may have experienced inner peace but oftentimes we make the mistake of finding its origin from the depths of our mind.
All forms of meditations seek to achieve the state of peace; this process takes on the effort of liberating ourselves from the noise of the mind—after only which inner peace can be tapped. In our effort to find peace in the mind, we have employed artificial means which clouds the true path upon which it can only be achieved.
The last yet never the least in weight are our longing for prosperity. While it may be ideal to live a life of absolute prosperity, I wonder where the requisite virtue of strife fits in. I believe that good fortune rest on our continuous effort to wade into uncertainty. There will be times when life will not allow us to prosper, for reasons that we need to understand and learn from. The longing for lasting prosperity will only lead to boredom and decay.
Life is a balance of what we aspire and what we despise, each complements the other. Without understanding of this wisdom, man will continue to strive for false aspirations.
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Our lifetime is not enough to know all the experiences of life. Therefore, we need to have other sources in maximizing our understanding of the many facets of our existence. In this regard I am bound to share with you the most powerful materials that have shaken my foundation and have changed my life as well as the lives of many.
Life is full of questions but I have found answers in perusing the books: The Road Less Traveled, Man’s Search for Meaning and The Power of Now, these has given me light on the deepest nature of man. Still, in searching for ways of enhancing my life I have found: Think and Grow Rich, The Magic of Thinking Big and Thick Face Black Heart. In matters of understanding my mind I was greatly enlightened by the suspense filled novel’s Way of the Peaceful Warrior, A Rich Man’s Secret and The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. And finally, I have understood the pattern of my finances through reading Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.
Everything we wish in life will come upon us if we first seek the wisdom of knowing.
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This is a very thoughtful and interesting post Walter. My former life-coaching, now meditation-teaching practice is called The Happiness Business, and so this is a subject very close to my heart.
For me, a happy life is not one devoid of sadness. Although it seems to be a contradiction in terms, living a happy life, overall, requires us to accept the periods of sorrow and chaos that will inevitably present themselves. Life is a series of ups and downs, and we wouldn’t feel as “happy” during the good times, if we didn’t know the contrast of the not so good. This contrast fosters gratitude, one of the primary keys to a happy life.
Denial of our feelings, on the other hand, keeps us stuck. The way out of our unhappy times is go straight through them, not around them. This means accepting whatever is in front of us right now and dealing with it.
However, it doesn’t mean we have to fatalistic about it. We can still be optimistic, and hold onto the belief that what we’re going through is temporary, more “happy” times are around the corner, and a time will come when we look back and appreciate something from the tougher experiences.
You have finely shared an enlightening point here. Life is all about experience, whatever it’s presented to us we must carry. Though happiness may not be lasting, we have as you said more happy times around the corner.
Hi Walter,
This sounds like it’s related to the Law of Polarity where every positive thing has a negative opposite and every negative thing has a positive opposite. I just learned about this law today from Bob Proctor’s “Power Principles”.
Am I on the right track. I’m still new to the PD field.
We have to accept the good with the bad, but it’s up to us how to respond to the bad. That is within our control.
Gordie´s last blog ..How To Slice And Dice Your Way To Success.
There’s no good and bad. Such are only labels of our mind. The more we face the truth in life, the more we acquire wisdom, and with such comes personal growth. Our tendency is to resist the bad and embrace the good, what we don’t understand is that they are of the same coin.
Hey Walter,
Thanks for the interesting perspective.
Is there anything that can be considered bad then? Genocide? I just want to understand more what you mean by there is no bad. Thanks!
Gordie´s last blog ..How To Slice And Dice Your Way To Success. 
We consider something as bad when it violates the rules that are built upon our system. This is the very reason it is hard for humans to forgive and blame the misfortunes of life. We even blame nature for the calamities it has brought upon us. But in my observation, every event is cause and effect.
Genocide, we consider bad because it go against our moral rules. In the end, there’s questions I cannot answer: what makes good good and what makes bad bad? Where is the source of our understanding that makes certain thing or event good or bad? If the preservation of life is the good thing to do then why do we allow death penalty?
Thank you Walter for taking the time to reply. You’re right it’s a tough question.
Gordie´s last blog ..How To Slice And Dice Your Way To Success. 
As with all emotional states, happiness is a fleeting thing. Emotion, by its nature, is always changing, and it is, in fact, the contrast between emotions that allows us to fully experience them. If one were always happy, that happiness would lose signifigance and we would no longer call it happiness.
Yes indeed, the beauty of life lies in contrast, not on constants. Happiness is just one part of our experience, and in our life we must experience all.
It is about the journey toward the things you attain, as much as it is about attaining those things.
Many times I have attained things I have wanted for so long, and once I had them, the excitement wasn’t as big as I had always imagined it would be.
Walter I have done more intellectual reading on your blog in the past few weeks then I did my 11th grade year,,lol my english teacher would be so proud.. great work man.
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I have had the same experience when I crave for something. Oftentimes I ask myself why do I keep on falling on the same trap. But then I realize that it is our nature. However, we must do our best to emancipate from our instincts.
Thank you John for the compliment.
Your Welcome Buddy.
Yes we need to work on walking away from our instincts, the longer I go, the harder this will be..lol
Hi Walter,
Yes, many times we dream of acquiring something just to find later that once we have it it is not so important to us anymore, which proves that life itself is a continuous, moving, reshaping creature.
We “move” thru life, we are in motion, so we cannot consider static things (when children we could have only chocolate for lunch, when adults just a small piece is enough) We grow in an enviroment of commercialism so we are convinced that material stuff will bring us happiness and peace of mind, but those are static elements that pass by while we travel life, setting ourselves to those static elements is stopping ourselves from flowing thru life and instead becoming slaves of our own adquisitions.
This time of unstable economy could be like a wake up call for many that settled their human condition into materialism.
Great post!
Raul
Raul´s last blog ..Look Poor To Look Rich
One of our weakness is our gullibility in terms of good stuff. When something will make us feel good, we fall for it. In this hard times, it’s time to accept the necessity of dealing with adversity.
Walter,
You delve into some deep and interesting questions here.
Happiness is an extremely difficult concept to define, but some of the ideas which you touch upon here would fit most people’s idea of the concept.
As you have clearly demonstrated, freedom from worry, peace of mind and prosperity are not everlasting in nature, so if we define happiness by these three attributes, then I suppose that would mean that happiness is a temporary state also.
From my own point of view, I try to define happiness through my relationship with god. I personally believe that god, through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, has completely forgiven my sins and shortcomings, and has freed me to be in relationship with him.
That is not to say that I don’t feel pain and sorrow – the experience of these type of emotions (along with some jubilation and joy) is part of our human nature, especially in times of difficulty or personal tragedy. Failure to ever experience these feelings does not represent happiness, rather it represents a form of denial.
But because of what god has done for me, I do have some form of inner peace which seems to last through good times and bad. I don’t know if you call it ‘happiness’ or not.
Andrew´s last blog ..Niger Delta Crisis – Big Oil’s Big Lesson
Deep within me, I know that the ultimate experience of happiness is with God. Though I am sadden by the concept man has put upon God, I know that He is not what religion says of Him. Only by personal experience with Him can we truly understand His ways.
Walter, I should have known you were an ontologist! As a person who also benefits from meditative prayer, I believe we can quiet our minds at least for a time. It is a mature spiritual practice and I don’t know that it brings happiness, but maybe contentment.
How much do you believe that peace, happiness and prosperity are what we decide they will be? Sometimes I think prosperity is so important, I think I am not, and then I strive for it. Sometimes I feel extremely prosperous. Is it all a state of mind?
I really do think peace and happiness are a practiced feeling. When I write in my gratitude journal, or rejoice in prayer it brings the happiness and the peace to the foremost part of my thinking. When I am under stress, deadlines at work, people are whining at me, and everything I touch seems to fall apart, I get further away from peace and happiness. I’m not even thinking about them. We do seek them out.
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The spirit is more powerful than the mind. It is only by discovering our spirit can we see beyond the complexity of things. Our mind has the habits of labeling and resisting, it’s hard to rely our reason from it. But our spirit is beyond our form, it is part of a whole; the more we are aware of this, the more we realize our true nature.
Great post Walter, I think only by accepting the fact that sometimes our mind can’t be at peace no matter how hard we try, can we reach peace. Accept everything even the fact that you can’t accept sometimes:)
Lana – DreamFollowers Blog´s last blog ..You are NOT responsible for anything and how it can help you reach any of your goals.
Welcome Lana, you certainly made a good point here. Accepting the fact of life is the start of true wisdom.
hi walter, is my first time to visiting here, wow ur site is very interesting, im glad to read here.
your Lasting aspirations is greats….. i think, i must try to be succses
Thanks JR, I hope to see you here again.
Hi Walter,
I admire how you say your feelings about these aspirations. I also have the same but not about the aspirations…it’s about my confusion of things. Sometimes when I seek answers, they all come and my confusion goes down. But when all answers are clashing together…all of a sudden my confusion goes up.
Anyways Walter, thanks for commenting in my Blog.
I will follow your blog too from now on.
You got a new subscriber!
Jp Manching @ Beginners Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Blog Priorities 1: Quality First, Quantity Follows
The reason for our confusion is that we look at one perspective–mostly our belief. If we open our mind and let go of our judgments, we are able to see things clearly.
That’s why I don’t believe in “The first answer is always right.”.
Same with judgments, if we judge a thing right away we became bias.
Thanks for the advice Walter.
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I’ve long liked Ovid’s quote, “What we were yesterday, what we are today, we shall not be tomorrow.”
Change bestows hope, for what we all wish for. Fleeting or no, those moments are sustaining.
Thank you for your writings, Walter!
That’s a wise quote you have shared. Too bad most of us are stuck in the past and are resistant to change, if they only knew the wisdom behind it.
Hi Walter,
Happiness is something that I have wanted since I was a child. After years of searching for it, I came to see that it is truly a state of inner peace. I think that is what we all aspire for…to be at peace with who we are and what we have.
The problem is that we do not see that all the answers we seek are inside of us the entire time. That is what true spirituality teaches us. The answers are within but are covered with junk which we call our issues.
Money is a tool for living but it is not what living is all about.
Once inner peace is achieved, I think that the next aspiration is to help the world in any way that we can and to hopefully leave this planet in a much better place than when we came into it.
We are truly more powerful than we realize.
Nadia – Happy Lotus´s last blog ..Searching For Some Soul
To understand this inner peace, we must step above the rituals of our long held beliefs because therein lies the source of our blindness. We cannot find the real source of peace if we continue making judgments and labeling. All that is must be accepted before we can experience what is beyond.
I do agree with what are you saying.
In my life and my condition, it’s hard to see happiness, for real. But, I don’t want to right all of sad things happen in my life here. Lol!
What I want to say, we should not feel too depress and sad with whatever bad things happen in our life. I always treat those down feelings as a bridge to get a new spirit and determination. It leads me to some kind of a spirit that I could never imagine that I ever had one.
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You are blessed to response this way in the face of adversities. I go with your thought that they are bridges to a new spirit, determination, and may I add understanding.
Thanks for the compliment, Walter. Yea, hardship and experiences in life do taught me about a lot of things. They makes me become older from my age. I mean become mature from my age should be.
Fatin Pauzi´s last blog ..How to Apply UK Credit Card
Hi friend i am visiting your site for the first time.. your post “Lasting aspirations” inspired me a lot..Both good and bad are same.. Its in our view to see a thing as good and also as bad.. Let us try to see everything positively and this will give a fresh mind…
What do you say friend?
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I definitely agree on you on this. Seeing things in a more positive light can benefit us rather than brooding on the unpleasant.
Walter,
I full understand your thoughts today. I will say that I disagree. If we are our authentic self which is a state of love, we can achieve lasting happiness, peace of mind and prosperity. We are limited by our selves in these matters, we are limited by our experinces and the experiences of others. We are limited by limited teachings which tell us that there must be duality and that for the good there must be the bad. I understand yet reject this thinking. We can live a life of continued happiness this is a state of being, not something we must continuously pursue. This does not mean that events will transpire in our life which will bring some sadness, however that event which we find sad does not change my core state of being. When my mother passed on a couple years ago, I felt sad for I missed her a great deal, however I was still living a happy life. This may sound like a contradiction, however I assure you it is not. This may sound like a Pollyanna attitude, I assure you it is not. We can feel pain and at the same time be happy at our core, we can experience loss yet know that we are living a life of prosperity and when we do this we always will have Peace of Mind! There is much to think about and nothing to worry about, which to me means I can always have peace of mind for there is nothing to disturb my peace. If my peace is disturbed it is of my own creation.
Mark´s last blog ..No Room At The Inn
I respect your say on this. In fact I’m glad you have shared what’s on your mind. It’s a learning process for me to know what others are thinking, for I know in myself that I lack.
I do agree that our authentic self is a state of love, but most of us has limited themselves on fence of limited experience and learning. There will be no more contradiction once we have tackled our true being.
I believe in balance, and I’ve come to realize happiness as an attitude rather than a permanent state of mind in which we experience perpetual joy. How can we appreciate life’s joys if we have not encountered sorrow? I think the same is true for peace of mind. As for prosperity, wealth is completely subjective. One person’s fortune is another’s burden.
Melissa Donovan´s last blog ..Fostering Creativity for Better Writing
Balance is everything it is said and I believe in such. Much of our experiences in life follows this rule, however, we tend to resists this fact.
Gandhi said, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” That will ensure inner balance and with it, happiness.
BK´s last blog ..Living Life Forward
Gandhi is one of my highly revered person and I’m glad you have shared his wisdom here.
“Everything exists in limited quantity – especially happiness”….I like this sentence…..But I found peace in my life is much less than happiness.
Thanks
TC
Life is all lessons, we must learn from it.
Hi Walter, really great article that you have written here. I agree that true happiness often comes when there is some sort of struggle that happens. I remember watching the movie, Cast Away, where Tom Hank’s character gets stuck on an island for many years and struggles for survival, before he gets saved out in the ocean by a ship. Without that struggle, the happiness wouldn’t have been as real, meaningful, and long lasting. Thanks for this sharing this and writing this great article.
It’s good to hear that you have grasped the reciprocity of happiness. Everything in life spawns from consequences, without struggle, happiness cannot be.
Walter, this is very good. I think that your aspirations are only as good as your ability to change and adapt to what life throws at you while still making some progress towards what you want. Validation only lies within.. seeking it in others or in materials will never yield great satisfaction. That’s just my opinion though.
Thanks for commenting n my blog!
JR Moreau´s last blog ..Patience May Not Get Me Through This Line Faster…
You opined very well JR. Thanks for giving your say on this.
I like how Eckhart Tolle put it. “Happiness depends on conditions being perceived as positive; Inner peace does not.” That’s why happiness will always be temporary. However, peace is permanent. It’s your natural state and you don’t need to work hard or struggle to attain it. More peace shows up in your life as more awareness enters. The more you’re aware of yourself and your state, the more you have the power to consciously change it by returning to the present moment and releasing yourself from getting caught up in the past and the future.
Broderick Durisseau´s last blog ..The Secret Commentary is Better Than the Movie
I can see your point here Broderick. Peace is indeed our natural state. But most of the times we live an unnatural life of noise and ripples. We have forgotten our own awareness, and this I believe has made peace elusive.
I think you hit the key — it’s not about absolutes, it’s about being your best, across the things that matter to you most.
It’s a process, and the real key is to enjoy the journey, not just the results.
J.D. Meier´s last blog ..8 Ways to Be Heroic
You said it right. We often forget to give our best in the things we do. Instead, we kept on focusing on achieving something that we think are everlasting, completely neglecting the lessons from our journey in life.
I agree. You can’t have happiness without expierencing sadness. It’s impossible to always be happy. You have to overcome some sort of challenge or obstacle to achieve happiness.
Living with Balls´s last blog ..The Sexiest Music Videos of the Decade (2000-2009)
I’m glad you see my point. Everything in life is complementary.
Wow that is a lot to think about. Reading your post does make me think about happiness. I want to be happy I think all of us do, but you are so right it doesn’t last forever. There are times we are sad, angry, jealous, but I think that is just part of life. I think if we were just happy all the time we wouldn’t be happy. Sometimes I think its the other emotions that make the happy times even better.
You really have some great posts here
I have to take a look around.
Thanks
Jim
Thank you Jim. It’s natural for us to seek happiness but we must face the reality of life, a life in which it has rules of its own.
This post is fantastic, I had to read it a few times to make sure I soaked it all in.
I live my life by a saying I heard somewhere ‘Your journey doesn’t define where you are going, it just infleunces the way you travel’
Balance and peace is required in all of us, everyone has it, it’s just the ability to find it.
That’s a fine motto for living. I am on the same path.
Walter…I’m posting a bit late here.
There might be a misperception you have about meditation. It is definitely not about achieving something, especially peace of mind. That really goes against one of the core beliefs of Buddhism, which is that suffering is caused from attachment.
To achieve a certain state, whether it be happiness or peace of mind means that you have to be attached to some thought about what that state means. What is happiness? What is peace of mind?
Speaking from a more meditative, mindfulness/Buddhist approach, the goal is not to cease thinking or overcome our thoughts. They are a part of life and we must accept them. The key is to strive for right mindfulness (just one of the keys). To view our thoughts with non-judgmental awareness and to not attach ourselves to ‘happy’ or ‘negative’ thoughts one way or the other.
Hopefully this helps a little bit!
Nate´s last blog ..Information Overload – Part II
Thank you for sharing some light on this matter thru Buddhist approach. I’m always open for learning and I never allow myself to settle on things that I already know. I’m going to ruminate on the idea you have contributed here. It’s never too late to learn.
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I also have long been aware of the deep seated longings of man. I’ve spent my fair share of time in solitude pondering them. I’m intrigued by the three that you mentioned. I liked how you described them.
Ben´s last blog ..Romantic Thoughts that Must Be Done