Copyright © k.b.mann, from date of original creation: 19th May, 1999
Love, goodness, virtue, joy, happiness, are all inseparably intertwined. Likewise, egotism, selfishness, wickedness, vice, pain, sorrow, misery, are also unbreakably related. How often does one hear people say that they will approach someone with a request or for a solution to a problem, when that someone is in a peaceful or happy state? Why is this so? This is because it is seen in experience that a person in a happy frame of mind is far more likely to be helpful, generous, tolerant, forgiving or obliging, even self-sacrificing. Therefore, it is self-evident that virtuosity, joyfulness and helpfulness have a strong connection. Does it not logically follow that if someone cultivated virtues and lived them, they would experience peace, joy and happiness?
It is common knowledge that a person in a negative or unhappy state of mind behaves in ways that reflect many negative attributes. Here are some of the traits displayed by people when in a negative state of mind: anger, hostility, impatience, irritability, touchiness, distrust, cynicism, intolerance, pettiness, self-defensiveness, et cetera. Does this not make it quite apparent that unhappy, vicious or other negative states of mind are tied together as an inseparable set? From this very simple yet obvious truth, any thoughtful person would learn to stay free of negative or lesser emotions, and from selfishness, egotism or vice. Instead, would not any sensible person strive to cultivate thoughts and emotions of a selfless and virtuous nature? This would certainly be so if one is at all pensively interested in true personal welfare in the here and, more importantly, the hereafter. Manifestly, on bodily death, nothing except the mind with its conditions accompanies one.
These equations are so simple and obvious in experience as well as observation, yet they are not really grasped by most people. This is astonishing since the truth of these equations is fully within the scope of realization of even ordinary people. Besides, why are so many of the most vital, manifest and undeniable truths not most heavily underscored by religions, philosophies and psychology? Why have obvious truths remained so obfuscated? Why have they not become apparent to humankind in a crystal-clear manner through the many long ages? These are very puzzling questions, but the answer is not very complicated. The first and most important part of the answer is the lack of thought on the part of the majority of human beings. The second is deliberate misguidance by vested interests, be they religious, political or commercial.
That is all for now.
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