All living beings have the same
basic wish to be happy and avoid suffering, but very few people understand the
real causes of happiness and suffering.
We generally believe that external conditions such as food, friends, cars, and
money are the real causes of happiness, and as a result we devote nearly all our
time and energy to acquiring these. Superficially it seems that these things can
make us happy, but if we look more deeply we shall see that they also bring us a
lot of suffering and problems.
Happiness and suffering are opposites, so if something is a real cause of
happiness it cannot give rise to suffering. If food, money, and so forth really
are causes of happiness, they can never be causes of suffering; yet we know from
our own experience that they often do cause suffering.
For example, one of our main interests is food, but the food we eat is also the
principal cause of most of our ill health and sickness. In the process of
producing the things we feel will make us happy we have polluted our environment
to such an extent that the very air we breathe and the water we drink now
threaten our health and well-being.
We love the freedom and independence a car can give us, but the cost in
accidents and environmental destruction is enormous. We feel that money is
essential for us to enjoy life, but the pursuit of money also causes immense
problems and anxiety. Even our family and friends, with whom we enjoy so many
happy moments, can also bring us a lot of worry and heartache.
In recent years our understanding and control of the external world have
increased considerably, and as a result we have witnessed remarkable material
progress; but there has not been a corresponding increase in human happiness.
There is no less suffering in the world today, and there are no fewer problems.
Indeed, it could be said that there are now more problems and greater
unhappiness than ever before. This shows that the solution to our problems, and
to those of society as a whole, does not lie in knowledge or control of the
external world.
Why is this? Happiness and suffering are states of mind, and so their main
causes cannot be found outside the mind. The real source of happiness is inner
peace.
If our mind is peaceful, we shall be happy all the time, regardless of external
conditions, but if it is disturbed or troubled in any way, we shall never be
happy, no matter how good our external conditions may be.
External conditions can only make us happy if our mind is peaceful.