Today I bequeath happiness upon you. The day you read this, happiness is yours. And if you read this every day, every day happiness is yours. Know happiness is yours. It belongs to you. The whole configuration of your life changes according to your thoughts. This is really true what I tell you. You set yourself up for happiness, or you set yourself up for unhappiness. Unhappiness is a set-up. It is something you have set yourself up for.
You may say: “But, God, there is something I am truly unhappy about. Anyone would be.”
Right now, beloveds, there is someone who would be thrilled to have your difficulties.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that you had an accident and lost the sight of one eye. What a terrible thing happened to you. Don’t think that I don’t understand. I understand very well.
Yet what I want you to understand is that someone who is blind in both eyes, would be overjoyed to have one good eye. You bemoan a loss, and he would be grateful for what you bemoan.
Even as you know this story, still, you are weeping. O Beloveds, to be glad for what is. You know all the stories, all the possibilities, and still you moan and groan. It sounds like an expression to you and not Truth that there is good in everything. Even with what seems like the worst thing that could ever happen -- to lose a child -- someone who yearned for children and could not have a child might wish to have had the years with a child that you had. Everyone understands what is considered loss.
What I am really pointing out is that, in the relative world, the world in which you live on Earth, everything is relative. This is the myth you live in. There is more, and there is less. There is the best, and there is the worst. There are all kinds of notes that can be played on the flute of life. All extremes, and all the middle ranges.
At one end is happiness, and at another end, is unhappiness. The world is changeable. It changes from minute to minute, the world does. Perception may well not be Truth. Perception may be fallacy. Certainly, even your perception varies from time to time. Pretty much most or all of the time, everything you know or think you know depends upon your perception. If it were not for the boundedness of perception, you would simply be happy. You could be gracious to life, glad for it no matter what shape it comes in.
Here’s one possible aid for you. Instead of standardizing what life has to look like in order for you to be happy, tell yourself you are on an adventure. You are the hero of an adventure story. In this story, your life is not supposed to be preplanned. Your life is supposed to be only what it is. So you are the protagonist in a new story now.
If you, the hero, loses sight in one eye or two eyes, you are a hero who happens to lose sight in one eye or two eyes. As the hero of this adventure story, not even for a moment do you sulk in bed. Not even for one moment. Without sight, you can’t be a swashbuckler right now, yet you can be an heroic protagonist. You can be such a good sport. You lose your sight, and you gain a new perspective on life. It isn’t the adventure you might have chosen, yet, nevertheless, it is the adventure you are in. You have a new part to play, a new role to get the hang of. Nothing prevents your hero-ness in whatever guise you wear.