Bliss
Ecstasy of being
Who doesn’t desire more bliss? The pure joy and ecstasy of simply being. Whether we seek bliss through objects, relationships, service work, recreation, nature, food or other means, we all hunger for it. Its at the root of what drives all of our meditation, personal growth work and willingness to dismantle our programmed sense of self. Ironically bliss, which is very thing that we are, which we claim to desire more than anything else, is the very thing that we give away a million times a day.
Why is it that we give bliss, which again is our essential nature or self, away so often? Why is it that other things seem more important than bliss and therefore reign as primary in our day to day experience. To begin many people do not realize that they are in charge of themselves. What I mean by this is that most people are significantly disempowered and are unaware that they are deciding their life. They believe that life is random, including their emotional states, and they just hope that they wake up on any given day and feel good. With this lack of awareness of self there is the appearance that circumstances decide for you and that there really is nothing you can do about it. When we disown our power in this way we fail to see any responsibility or accountability that we have for our self and our state of being. We therefore hope for something great, magical, or some object/person that we desire to come along and fix us or make things perfect and right, and we become part of the circumstance rather than the creator of it.
Outside of lack of awareness of self and the disownment of our power what things interfere with us choosing bliss moment to moment? One of the prime things that interferes is our minds need to know what’s happening or where things are going and our attachment to things or outcomes. When we desire a thing or outcome more than we desire bliss, then the thing or outcome is what is in charge and no longer is bliss center stage. Often we fear loss of an object/outcome or even loss of the thought of an object/outcome, because we have confused the object/outcome with our state of bliss.
If bliss had an enemy, which it doesn’t, but if it did, its enemy would be certainty. Nothing compresses, flattens, and attempts to put bliss in a box more than the our mind’s perceived need for certainty. Uncertainty is bliss’s playground while certainty is the mind’s. Nothing is certain until you decide on it. Take great care and attention to what it is you decide on as that will be your experience.
Bliss Beyond Beliefs
Allowing bliss to reign
There are umpteen million beliefs that interfere with bliss. They are along the lines of thinking you don’t deserve it, can’t have/be it, impossible to live in at all times, its not real, bliss is only for some people, its not enough, its impractical, its more important to be right, tragedy can’t be blissful, bliss is not sustainable, too many things are wrong in me, too many things are wrong in the world, bliss is circumstantial, it’s only for sometimes, can’t be blissful for no reason, can’t be blissful if other people aren’t… and the list goes on and on. These are our roadblocks in bliss. Imagine a road that is made of pure bliss that goes on forever and ever. Now imagine that every 10 feet there is red light. All of those red lights are your interfering beliefs that arise and pause your experience of bliss. The more red lights on your road the less you get to experience the road.
When we do the work of investigating our beliefs we have fewer and fewer red lights on our road. This is a worthwhile journey, though arduous and seemingly unending at times. This begs the question as to if there is a more accelerated way to reclaiming bliss. Can we in one full swoop be fully rested as bliss here and now in this human experience? The short answer is absolutely yes. What’s required is to see bliss inside of every single face, circumstance and experience no matter what is appearing. In essence replacing everything you perceive with its actual true state, which is bliss. This brings you into correct seeing, and it is a tall order for most people. Hence the arduous path of self-inquiry and investigation is often needed.
Why bliss you might ask? Well outside the fact that it’s your natural state, it is also what makes things come alive, organizes and reorganizes forms, is self-intelligent, and not to mention feels A-MA-ZING! There has never been a moment when I regretted being rested and moved by and as bliss. It is the dismantler of all untruth, the dissolver of all inauthenticity, the lover all expressions, the breaker of chains, the wise one, the mover, the knower. It’s the portal into your most absolute self. So really a better question to ask is why not bliss?
When you give away all of your insistences, biases, and attachments to people, objects, and outcomes, bliss is more and more revealed to you and becomes more and more your direct experience of reality. The greater your willingness to give away your roadblocks and red lights and give into the bliss that is already here the more you will enjoy your human experience. The more purposeful you will feel even if you “do” nothing. The ease with which you will be able to engage on relational levels with other people will increase. The fears and thoughts that once crippled you will be no more. Everything you perceive will look more inviting to you. Truly when you give everything over to bliss is the first time that you can genuinely serve or care. To be without agenda or attachment to outcome is to allow love to simply be and move as it so intelligently is organized to do.
Dr. Amanda Hessel, Chiropractor, Network Spinal Analysis & Somato-Respiratory Integration, Boulder, Colorado