In the movie “The Hours”, Meryl Streep’s character says in one scene, as she’s describing how she felt being in relationship with a certain man…
“So, this is the beginning of happiness. This is where it starts. And, of course, there will always be more.” Then she laughs ruefully and goes on to say, “It never occurred to me it wasn’t the beginning. It was happiness. It was the moment … right then.”
Amen.
For a moment, the veil of illusion parted, and she caught a glimpse of Reality.
Humanly, happiness does seem to have a beginning and an end, because the human condition is in time. No matter how great the happiness, if it was caused by something in this world, it is still just an imitation of Divine Joy and will always be temporary. What we are being shown here, is that Joy is the ever-present manifestation of Now.
Happiness, Joy, is not something to be attained or wished for. It is not dependent on a future, or non-existent person, place, thing or condition. It is found only in the total surrender to our True Identity in this eternal moment of Now. Joy is not our continual experience when we deny that It is what we are – right here, right now.
Causeless Joy is real, but it is only realized when we surrender to the Truth that it is our Self-existent nature. It’s what is (seemingly) buried underneath all those negative, limiting thoughts and beliefs. We can experience Joy at any given moment by simply letting go of the finite concepts we are entertaining, and giving ourselves over to Infinite Bliss.
God is always smiling…