Why Are We Never Happy? | Eckhart Tolle Teachings

So no matter where you look on the surface level, you're not going to arrive. And the Buddha recognized that because he said, wherever you go and whatever you do, you will encounter suffering. Ooh. And that, if only read as a statement, sounds very pessimistic or nihilistic, which means you are condemned to perpetual frustration. So other translations of the term that the Buddha used, which is dukkha, other possible translations of that term would be misery, unsatisfactoriness, unhappiness, frustration. Nothing is ever good enough. And so, and that manifests in some people more extremely than in others, that state of consciousness. But in many people, it manifests as a continuous discontent, a continuous sense of something wrong here, except for brief moments, brief interludes. You've just arrived at your vacation destination until then that feeling comes up again. So dukkha, it's a very profound realization that on that level, there is no ultimate fulfillment or happiness. And so you cannot look for it in the future because when you look at it on the surface level of life, to fulfillment through a situation, through a new place, a new activity, a new way of relating to people, becoming important, getting recognition by others, all these things are surface phenomena, which are dukkha. And so I've met some people, famous and wealthy people, who have actually achieved all that. And then they realized it actually, it got worse because they could no longer be under the delusion that when they finally have enough money, they'll be free. And so finally they got all the money and they could go anywhere and they tried it out. And wherever they went, they found themselves. And they found their own state of consciousness, the unrealized state of consciousness. And wherever they went, because they found themselves, they found frustration. And they were unhappy sitting in their private jet. And that's a good point to reach. But the good news is, you don't need a private jet to get to that realization. Because otherwise the chances for most of us would be slim of realization were only possible through the acquisition of a private jet, or at least a share in, a time share in a jet, which you can buy, but that's still very expensive. So the surface level is not to be totally denied because undoubtedly you exist here on the level of form also and there are things to do and to acquire on the surface level as part of who you are on the level of form. So you need to be able to operate well on the level of form, learning new things, trying out new things, creating things on the level of form, whatever it is that you may want to create, or simply being engaged in certain activities on the level of form, having a personality that's not going to totally evaporate. So there's still things that are in you. You need to honor also that level of who you are, which does not mean being totally absorbed by it, trapped in it, and only know yourself as that. So to do, to be active, that happens on the surface level of life, that's fine. If you live in a place that is not the best, that perhaps it's noisy or not nice enough, why not see if you can find a better place to live or get a better job? These things still operate. Where it doesn't work is expecting some ultimate fulfillment through whatever you achieve. And then it, because if you expect some ultimate fulfillment, ultimate happiness, then you're telling the world, the world in whatever form it manifests to you, you're telling the world, make me happy. You have, you place expectations upon the world that it cannot meet. So the world, the world includes whatever happens to you, whatever other people, places, activities, relationships, it's all the, that's all the world, what you own, experiences on the level of form, all that is fine, is part of the dance of life. But if you expect it to make you happy, it's frustrating. If you no longer expect these things to make you happy, they actually are quite pleasant. You can experience many things as very pleasant things. You visit new places, it's nice. You don't expect that someplace you should find some ultimate fulfillment just because you moved from A to B. Or you meet a new person, a relationship, without placing an impossible demand upon the other person, looking for the ultimate spiritual partner to make me happy. Please apply here, send your photo too. So the, when you don't have the expectation that this person should make you happy, then the relationship actually works much better. But how can you not have that expectation? Only if at the same time that you operate on the level of form, you also are connected with the essence of who you are. You also realize experientially in the present moment, the meaning of the letter E, the inscription, you are. So what the inscription is telling you is to have that realization in the background of your life, so to speak, continuously. To have that inner spaciousness continuously as a backdrop, so to speak, to your life. So when you do things, not just when you meditate, not just, although it's nice to have glimpses of it or realizations when you, I mean, there are people who've been meditating for 20 years and never even had a glimpse of that because they always try to get somewhere through their meditation, not realizing the meditation is not a doing. So if you practice meditation as a doing, you'll continuously miss it because doing implies you want to get somewhere, which means it keeps you trapped on the surface level because only on the surface level, you can get somewhere. On the depth level, you already are somewhere or nowhere. On the depth level, that's the letter E, you are the beingness to note. And that is the inner spaciousness where you, that consciousness that you are transcends the person. And that is where the sense of being at home or to put it in a more conventional language, to be comfortable, there's an expression in English, to be comfortable in your own skin. Of course, it's more than that. It's deeper than in your own skin, but it points to that, to feel that sense of rootedness in something indestructible, and that is knowing that you are. And it's nothing to do with thinking. It's not a concept. It is knowing yourself as consciousness.