This Week’s Quotation:
Pleasure and fulfillment are part of the experience of self. Can you imagine a real self who could not have these experiences? A person who could not experience pleasure and fulfillment would be more like an automaton or a slave than a real human being. The signers of the Declaration of Independence of the 13 original United States of America had this in mind when they spoke about the right to the “pursuit of Happiness.”
Becoming a Sun
p. 277
Pleasure and Fulfillment
Author, Becoming a Sun
Think of one of the most fulfilling times of your life. When something comes to mind, look around in your memory banks to make sure it really is, with few memories better.
Got it?
Now here is my wager. I’ll bet you it had to do with an experience of love fulfilled. Your love for another person, enjoyment of life with another person for whom you feel love. Or even your love for a spiritual reality you touched.
I might lose my bet. But I don’t think so. Sure, there are all the lesser pleasures and fulfillments in life. But how much meaning do they have without a love for something or someone beyond oneself?
So why don’t we get right to it today? Giving ourselves with great love to someone or something beyond ourselves. Making our life about that.
Of course, that might start something. We might begin to love everyone. And everything. We might have to balance our time because there is so much to do to express our love. And to make sure our world knows that we love it.
Hmm. What a great problem!
What does it mean to become a sun?
Every human being is already a sun on the inside—a being of intense love and light. The difference is that some people have the vision and courage to become a sun on the outside. This difference is our human destiny.
2 Responses
“The right to the pursuit of happiness,” I wonder if any other country has words like these in a national declaration!
One of the most fulfilling times of my life was actually when I was on the ship to America in my youth. Not at all knowing what life would be like there, but feeling that life had given me a significant opportunity.
Yes, it had to do with love. A man had taken this trip a year earlier, and now I was going to join him, and get married. In my memory, that seemed secondary to my feeling of going to “the promised land.” For me, that promise was fulfilled, and I was able to bring it back to my people at home. They may not entirely feel it yet, but it has always stayed with me.
What a beautiful memory, Kari! Thank you for sharing it.