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August 01, 2023

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Many people do find happiness, perhaps security in their spiritual beliefs. It seems to be akin to a child having a father and/or mother figure who protects you and gives you security and affection. We live in an insecure and sometimes frightening world so it’s not surprising that many belief systems offer a degree of apparent safety - along with the promise of a better life after this one.

Even politicians with their particular policies offer an improved life and lifestyle which, apart from a few adjustments never really comes up with the goods. Of course, any belief system carries with it the possibility of becoming disbelief – with its accompanying sorrows.

It seems to me that what really makes a difference (assuming the basics of life are met) is to be able to sort out the mind; that is, to understand and realise the contents, the accumulated experiences and information that make the mind what it is – or rather, what it has become.

And, as the stoic says here “. . . embrace the life that you have.” Which I assume does not mean putting up with a bad situation, but obviously more to do with appreciating the simple, everyday experiences that are your life. And I guess to do this a certain freedom from the cultural, religious, national influences and beliefs that dominate the mind need to be seen – influences which have been absorbed from the time, place, and country one just happens to have been born into.

If you can’t be happy with what you have you will never be happy.

It’s not “what you have” but how you perceive what you have…

This blog post makes me smile. The opposite of greed is contentment.

To be content is to be satiated. Isn’t that what we’re all striving for?

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