Life is all about the happiness and not the hardships
 

Now, I'm going to share my own religion. I'm sharing and preaching this for anyone who can relate to it and is willing to listen to it. This is the best presentation and explanation of my religion. I didn't present and explain it in the past the best I could. But I think I've finally gotten it right this time:

Positive Emotions Are Divine States: The perception/experience of beauty, joy, greatness, and good value in our lives is vital and precious because, without it, then our lives could only be empty (valueless) or bad, horrible, tragic, and disgusting from our perspective. Therefore, this perception/experience is a vital and precious state of consciousness and that's the reason why I would describe it as being a divine state of consciousness.

Since it's divine, then I think positive emotions are god's holy light within us given that positive emotions are this perception/experience of beauty, greatness, and joy we need in our lives. Without his holy light, then we become beings of darkness through our negative emotions or empty vessels without our emotions. The goal would, therefore, be to become beings of light through our positive emotions and to avoid the negative emotions as well as apathy. Sadly, positive emotions are very fleeting things and many people struggle with depression due to no fault of their own.

This means all those depressed, genius artists who believed their lives were rich in beauty and greatness were believing a lie. It would be no different than a poor person believing he's rich when he's not. In order to be rich in the beauty and greatness in your life, then you need to be rich in positive emotions. Having little to no positive emotions can only render your life with little to no perceived beauty and greatness. Having negative emotions or no emotions at all is simply no way to live or be an artist. Especially the worst miserable emotions of your life.

We Need The Light: People who have near death experiences report they've met a being of light in the higher, heavenly realms known as "God" or "The Light." It is a ball of light that consists of pure joyful, loving, beautiful energy. Our brains are receivers that pick up on The Light's invisible spiritual energy here on Earth. It would be like how a radio picks up radio waves. Even though these waves are invisible, they still exist.

Once received by our brains, The Light's beautiful energy becomes a divine state of consciousness. It becomes a positive emotional state. Positive emotions are, therefore, the experience of The Light's divine power within us. We need this light within us to make our lives beautiful and to create a paradise here on Earth for us. Without the light, then our lives would only amount to nothing.

As for our negative emotions, this would be dark/negative energy from the lower realms picked up by our brains. So, our goal is to receive as much light as possible and to avoid receiving the darkness/negative energy as well as apathy. Sadly, there are many factors that can prevent our brains from receiving the light and it would be no different than preventing a radio from receiving the signal.

I Need To Become The Being Of Light; Not The Being Of Darkness: If I had the choice, I would choose to have no negative emotions in my life. Some people would say this is unbalanced. But, if there was an item that could only make my life horrible, bad, or disgusting, then I would obviously choose to rid of that item out of my life. I treat negative emotions as being that item. If I never had negative emotions in the first place, then I wouldn't have struggled much of my life with all those horrible miserable moments and neither would I feel violent or disgust towards myself or others.

When I have negative emotions, I become a horrible, disgusting, violent, or morbid being of darkness and I can only see things in life from a negative perspective. But, when I have my positive emotions, I become a being of light since I become something positive, beautiful, and joyful. I need to become that divine, magnificent, angelic being of light which is the reason why I would choose to only have positive emotions. But I would also want to avoid apathy since apathy is how I become an empty vessel (neither a being of light nor a being of darkness).

Euphoria Is The Best Thing: The more profound and intense the positive emotions you feel, the more beauty and joy your life has. The less degree of positive emotions you feel, the less beauty and joy your life has. This would have to mean getting high on drugs would be the most beautiful, joyful life to live. Drugs allow you to receive the greatest amount of The Light's divine energy. But I wouldn't do drugs just from the idea in my mind of the harm and consequences.

The more profound and intense the negative emotions you feel, the worse your life is. That's why we should avoid things such as emotional traumas since these are the worst emotional states that put you into the worst states of misery. If I had the choice to either live my life paralyzed in a bed feeling profound bliss or to be in the worst miserable state of my life, but live the life of my dreams, then I would choose to be the blissful vegetable in that bed because it doesn't matter how much luxury or riches I have.

Without my positive emotions, none of those things can be anything beautiful or joyful in my life. It's not about external factors such as how much money or luxury you have, how much you have helped others and contributed to the world, and neither is it about making the best of things and what mark we've made upon this world. It's all about what mental state we are in. Since positive emotions are the only mental states that bring our lives real beauty and joy, then there's nothing more to life than positive emotions.

Given this, I see no reason for others to complain and call me a pathetic, worthless human being if I have chosen to be that blissful vegetable in that bed in a pretend scenario. Rather, others should understand that positive emotions truly are the only things that can make our lives beautiful. Sure, we can help others to make them feel positive emotions. But we still need our own positive emotions to perceive that endeavor as something beautiful, great, and worthwhile.

I agree that might sound absurd, false, and ridiculous. But plenty of things that sound absurd are, in fact, true things. So, just because my worldview sounds cruel and unfair for those who struggle with depression and other mental illnesses that take away their positive emotions and just because my worldview sounds absurd and false doesn't make it false. You see, I'm all about the truth here regardless of how offensive said truth might be.

I'm not about sugar coating things and telling depressed people that their lives can still be beautiful without their positive emotions just because this is something they would like to hear. I think I've arrived at the unpleasant truth through my own personal experience and I am going to share and express that truth. I'm tired of my own emotions being dismissed as trivial things and I will speak up for myself and explain to others that they really are value judgments that give our lives value.

A lot to consider here, so just a few comments.

Positive Emotions Are Divine States:
The astral plane (the plane corresponding to the emotional body) is considered as the plane of duality. It is therefore difficult to only feel positive emotions without also feeling so-called negative emotions. The yogic path teaches the cultivation of emotional serenity so that we become free from all emotions. This does not make us cold and uncaring. Qualities such as love, compassion, joy, and humour are not considered as emotional states. Instead these are seen as qualities of the Soul or Consciousness. When the emotional body is serene and still then these Soul qualities can be expressed without distortion.

We Need The Light:
The Being of Light which people encounter in NDEs is actually our own Soul, not some external Being. The Soul naturally radiates loving joyful energies, but we cannot imagine how magnificent we really are, so when we encounter this Being of Light people think that this is God or Jesus or whatever.

Our challenge is to allow the beautiful energies of the Soul to shine through our personality without interference or distortion. It is like cleaning and polishing a mirror to give the clearest possible reflection.

I Need To Become The Being Of Light; Not The Being Of Darkness:
There comes a point where we stop labelling our emotions as positive or negative. They are simply emotions, particular energies. Our habitual tendency is to resist "negative" emotions, and thus they persist. If we allow ourselves to fully feel them without resistance then they quickly pass.

Euphoria Is The Best Thing:
The euphoric states found through drugs is temporary and illusory. After the initial euphoria has worn off we are back to our non-euphoric existence. So people take more of the same substance to try to recreate that euphoric state. So it goes on, and it is hopeless.

No drugs can compare with the bliss which can be found within, naturally. Our very Being is experienced as bliss. Who needs drugs?

Since positive emotions are the only mental states that bring our lives real beauty and joy, then there's nothing more to life than positive emotions.

As you might have gathered, I disagree. Real beauty and joy is found in identification with Soul consciousness. Such beauty and joy arises spontaneously from within in each moment. These may be reflected in positive emotions, but the positive emotions are just that, a reflection.

Peace

yes happiness,
perhaps some day your book will just have a few words in it that say it all
or perhaps a sentence made up from the same word endless repeating it self
or an empty page that says 'I have gone out to be there' that only you can read
I guess you will know , I guess you do know ,for I do not :-)

In the end we each find a spiritual philosophy and practice which works for us.

Peace

There is intellect and then there is emotions. I don't think intellect can allow us to perceive/experience things such as beauty, love, joy, compassion, suffering, happiness, etc. I think humanity has it all backwards when they claim that emotions aren't the experience of those things and that it's instead their intellect and character that allows them to experience those things. In other words, humanity is living their lives by the wrong definition of beauty, joy, love, etc.

Again, I would suggest that consciousness is beyond all intellect and emotions.

The qualities of beauty, joy, love, compassion etc arise spontaneously out of consciousness.

These qualities may be reflected on an intellectual and emotional level, but these are just reflections.

Peace.

If that's the case, then I would need a new personal experience to convince me that my emotions aren't the only way I can experience beauty, joy, love, horror, disgust, tragedy, etc. Who knows, it could be the case that these qualities are being ruled and dictated by my emotions. This means that, for me, I really am experiencing these qualities through my emotions and have yet to experience them through my Soul or Consciousness. After all, I need to experience these qualities somehow, someway to give my life beauty, joy, greatness, etc. My current way of experiencing them would be through my emotions.

the most common way to experience a glimpse is through the presence of somebody who lives in a deep state of bliss and silence. some people are open to it through presence. usually done through what is called shaktipat or transmission. their presence rubs off on you and you then experince it. then you know. from there there is meditation, pranayama, and continued shaktipat with somebody with enough power to help others. until you become that. if your not able to experience through presence i wouldnt give up. it could take time to become open to it.

Often the problem with Spiritual people is that they only look through the lens of Spirituality and don't see anything else. Almost all of the time that 'anything else' provides the framework for their Spirituality, so if your framework isn't right your Spirituality won't be all that it could be. Your OP suggests not Spirituality but psychological conflict and that's not good ground for the foundations.

I think this is the telling part -

In the OP, you repeat the phrase 'negative emotions' time and again. Simply, your reality is defined by your perceptions, your perceptions are defined by your beliefs and your beliefs are defined by your definitions. You define them as 'negative' so that's what they become in your reality. 'Negative' usually means 'don't like', 'don't want to deal with' or 'shouldn't happen to a nice person like me' and once that happens the conflict in our minds occurs and in this case it becomes your religion. Each one of your headings suggests conflict not Spirituality, including "Life is all about the happiness and not the hardships".

I'd suggest taking an about turn in your perspective and go inwards with this, to find what's really in your heart and mind. Forget positive emotions as a divine state, a divine state happens when you turn your hurts into halos.

You can't change the past, but you can change how you perceive it and what you move forwards with in your heart. When you acknowledge how it's affected you and you've created the intention to move on and turn around all that held you back, only then will you truly understand and it will not be your religion but your Spirituality.

Emotional theorists and neuroscientists refer to our emotions as positive emotions or negative emotions. I agree and support this based upon my own personal experience. As a matter of fact, positive and negative emotions is a term in psychology. If you were to talk to any psychologist, then I bet they would bring it up.

Life is all about Happiness and not about Hardship

Yeah!!! Amen to that!

None of us are trying to pursue hardship, not me anyway.
We pursue only happiness in our physical life.
However, the universe has the way of throwing hardships into our path
Now.. I personally believe that these hardships are not bad.
These are just ways for us to open our eyes and to learn from them..
We learn about true love, strength, courage, real friendship, loyalty, and appreciation .....all of our existence through those hardships.
Can happiness be appreciated w/o those hardships?

What an interesting thread!

There is what's known as cognitive dissonance, which is basically the 'lock on, lock out' principle. People tend to 'lock on' to 'positive' emotions and 'lock out' the 'negative' ones, and what happens is that the 'negative' emotions aren't dealt with properly, often they are ignored and consigned to what Jung calls the shadow self. There they can fester way quite happily unless they are acknowledged and dealt with effectively. It's actually those 'negative' emotions that we learn and develop from Spiritually, and if we can't transcend them and turn them into something more useful what does that say about us?

Life is about the Journey to Self and how hardship can either make or break us, it's about the resilience and strength of the human Spirit to endure and turn those hurts into halos. Locking onto the happiness and locking out the power of hardships to help shape us in so many ways and bring out a better developed self... You have to deal with that in your fashion, after all it's only you that has to Live in your own skin. But it's only from hardship that we can experience true empathy, sympathy and a few more things. Not only do you lock out the hardships you lock out everything that the hardship was there to give you, and much of what it can give you can be of service to others as well as ourselves.

Those emotional theorists and neuroscientists would probably agree that expressing even 'negative' emotions in a more productive way would provide more beneficial effects. The dark is the dark because people run away from it instead of shining their Light there.

Great! Follow your heart!

There is no fixed path. Our choice is itself the way. 🙏🏼

I relate to everything articulated in your meta-view, iamthat2!

Except I confess 'chemicals' (alcohol and pot in my case) have been a very useful way of my (my cellulary? established attitude) getting 'out' of established 'survival-grind' patterns. As in the case of everything else, they can be a 'a double edged sword,' however. I recommend they be used wisely/resolutely/consciously - that, of course, means not as a 'means' of 'escape' which is a 'runaway' (and 'jump of a cliff') leaning!

Brisk probably makes go do
things and probably makes
think a certain handle way

keep it good, keep it good

Rich, poor or otherwise, we will all experience some form of happiness and hardship in our lives. This is controlled by the law of karma; we reap what we sow.We can never escape from this reality using human means.

Instead of pursuing happiness, should we instead, let go of our human attachments? Without attachments, we are always at peace and all hardships would become insignificant.

That's the secret to joy actually: not seeking joy/happiness in some projected future time and scenario, but experiencing it now, in every moment. To do that, one must let go of attachments. And projecting into the future like that is a form of attachment-consciousness.

Letting go of 'attachments' = not 'clinging' (to any 'idea') = super-duper free FLOW of the Love and Joy river of LIFE = wisdom indeed!

Woohoo, River-of-Life Swimming-Fishies and Spirit-of-Being Flying-Birdies! :biggrin:

Be it happiness or hardship, perhaps what matters is how we define it and how we look at it.

If our attention is external, our evaluation is based on material transience. On the other hand, if the fulcrum of our consciousness is internalised, there is no evaluation, only nonchalant witness-like observation.

For example, suppose we wonder why the ‘evil’ prosper and the righteous suffer, leaving aside the judgmental aspect of evil vs good from the external level, let us view it internally ...

Our learning is as what we need for evolution. This means that those who erroneously seek happiness in the ephemeral are provided accordingly until they self-realise the futility of doing so. Likewise, those who have already learnt this lesson may be given a harder life to erase residual contaminants of the ego and to refine the sensibilities, besides settling karmic debt. The evaluation of destiny is based upon soul evolution, not momentary pleasure or pain.

With this understanding and acceptance we may then let go of attachments in as much as we are able. With divine assistance.

Such are my views on this enigma of life ...

That's how I 'see' (after 'seeking', in my case) our soul-process as Being, too -woohoo!