“If a person beholds a lesser happiness and a greater happiness, let them leave behind the lesser to attain the greater.”
– The Buddha in The Dhammapada
It has been said that the spiritual path can be summed up in a single word: remembrance. Remembrance of what? The word remembrance points out that, in the spiritual path, we are seeking something we all know deep down to be life’s most important pursuit. We all know that every person we love, and every material thing we cherish, will eventually be taken from us. We all know that death will take even our body from us in a cosmic blink. Deep down, we all know that true happiness cannot be found in impermanent things and people. It can only be found in the realization of God, who is Bliss Itself and is our True Nature.
The word remembrance also reminds us that God-Realization does not imply the gaining of something. Rather, the sages tell us that we have simply forgotten that we are God! We have spent lifetimes upon lifetimes falsely identifying with our temporary minds and bodies, trapping ourselves in the illusion that we are not already Eternal. Luckily, sages like the Buddha and Christ come to the Earth to remind us of what will truly bring us happiness, and to show us a path to Awakening.