THE SOURCE OF HAPPINESS IS . . .

Nonlocal
Detached
Impersonal
Beyond change
Made of essence

"This list breaks down metanoia into its component parts. Metanoia originally meant a change of heart, and I think the same elements apply:

"Nonlocal: Before you can have a change of heart, you must step outside yourself to get a larger perspective. The ego tries to narrow every issue down to, 'What will I get out of this?' When you reframe the question as, 'What will we get out of this?' or 'What will everyone get out of this?' your heart will immediately feel less confined and constricted.

"Detached: If you have a stake in a particular outcome, you can't afford a change of heart. The boundaries are drawn: everyone has chosen a side to be one. The ego insists that keeping your eye on the prize — meaning the result it wants — is all-important. But in detachment, you realize that many outcomes could be beneficial to you. You work toward the outcome you believe is right, yet you remain detached enough to shift when your heart tells you that you should.

"Impersonal: Situations seem to happen to people, but in reality they unfold from deeper karmic causes. The universe unfolds to itself, bringing to bear every cause that needs to be included. Don't take this process personally. The working out of cause-and-effect is eternal. You are part of this rising and falling that never ends, and only by riding the wave can you ensure that the waves don't drown you. The ego takes everything personally, leaving no room for higher guidance or purpose. If you can, realize that a cosmic plan is unfolding and appreciate the incredibly woven tapestry for what it is, a design of unparalleled marvel.

"Universal: One time, when I was trying hard to understand the Buddhist concept of ego death (a concept that seemed at the time very cold and heartless), someone eased my mind by saying, 'It's not that you destroy who you are. You just expand the sense of 'I' from your little ego to the cosmic ego." That's a big proposition, but what I liked about this version is that nothing gets excluded. You start seeing every situation as belonging in our world, and even though that sense of inclusion may start out small — my family, my house, my neighborhood — it can grow naturally. The very fact that the ego finds it absurd to say my world, my galaxy, my universe implies that there is a shift at hand that it can't make it on its own. The key idea is to keep in mind that awareness is universal, however confined your ego makes you feel at any given moment.

"Beyond change: The happiness you are used to comes and goes. Instead of thinking of this as a well that runs dry, imagine the atmosphere. There's always humidity in the atmosphere, and sometimes it releases itself as rain. The days when it doesn't rain haven't made the humidity go away; it's always present in the air, waiting to precipitate as conditions change. You can take the same attitude toward happiness, which is always present in awareness without having to precipitate every moment — it shows itself as conditions change. People are different in their baseline of emotion, and some experience more cheerfulness, optimism and contentment than others.

"This variety expresses the diversity of creation. You can't expect the desert and the rain forest to behave the same. Yet these alterations in personal makeup are superficial. The same unchanging happiness can be assessed in everyone's awareness. Know that this is true, and don't use the ups and downs of your personal happiness as a reason for not journeying to the source.

"Essence: Happiness is not a unique thing. It is one flavor of essence among many. One time, a disciple complained to his teacher that all the time spent on spiritual work hadn't made him happy, 'Your job right now isn't to be happy,' the teacher swiftly replied. 'Your job is to become real.' Essence is real, and when you capture it, happiness follows because all the qualities of essence follow. Trying to be happy as an end in itself is limited; you will be fortunate just to meet your ego's requirements for a happy life. If instead you devote yourself to a total shift in awareness, happiness arrives as a gift freely bestowed by consciousness."