Stop Searching for Happiness, It Is Not a Feeling or Emotion

A man who has been searching for happiness seeking for much of his life through many different spiritual paths, wants to know if this is the last step on his journey and if he will finally feel the inner peace and lasting happiness that many other people seem to feel.

Rupert replies that happiness is not a feeling or an emotion, it is the background of all feelings. The awareness of being is the experience of happiness. You cannot take a journey to it. You can only take a journey away from it. In other words, there are no spiritual paths.

You cannot take a path from where you are to where you are. If you think you are on a path, you are on a path away from yourself. You can only search for what you are not, you cannot search for what you are. The path starts with what you are, it doesn't end with what you are.

In other words, you can not search for happiness. Happiness is your nature. Understand this clearly and with this understanding allow your search for happiness to come to an end.

If your search for happiness came to an end, you would very rarely leave the now in your imagination. You would rarely visit the past. And you would rarely visit the future unless require to do so for practical or celebratory purposes. You would find yourself at peace in the now. This is the end of seeking.

UPCOMING ONLINE RETREAT ON HAPPINESS (Weekend July 15–17)
Rupert's upcoming Online Weekend Retreat at Home is called You Are The Happiness You Seek, where we will discover that the peace and joy we have been searching for, for so long, can be easily found in the depths of our own being.

During our weekend together, we will come to this understanding not just intellectually, but more importantly in an experiential way, so that we each have a deeply felt sense of the place in ourself where happiness is fully available in every moment.

Find out more about Rupert's July Online Weekend Retreat at Home here:

Timestamps:

00:00 Searching for Inner Peace
02:00 Happiness Is Not a Feeling or an Emotion
03:28 Happiness Is Your Nature
03:53 There Are No Spiritual Paths
04:27 You Cannot Search for Happiness
04:58 At Peace In The Now
05:53 Stop The Seeking

This clip has been taken from one of Rupert's Online Retreats at Home on 19–23 February 2021, The Essence of Self-Enquiry.

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#rupertspira #happiness #nonduality #natureofreality #consciousness

RS21021h

[highlanderes]

Happiness is already with you. When I catch myself blocking it, I focus my attention on my body, put on a Buddha smile, and take a long slow conscious breath, my body let go of tension I notice, and I am back to being … happy.

[lisahubler]

Many years ago I saw a little sign on the wall inside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. I never forgot it, and I wasn’t sure I really understood it, but I’ve always remembered it. It said, “You cannot travel upon the path until you have become the path itself. ~ The Buddha”

[willekefarrington]

I can add one to the comment posted 8 hours ago:
“Happiness cannot be found from great effort and willpower but it is already there in relaxation and letting go." -Lama Gendun Rinpoche

It looks like the Universe is certainly telling me something today 😊. I followed the advice, relaxing. The letting go happened just like that. My cat snuggled up to me and did exactly the same. It felt like she was telling me: see it's that easy, I do it all day long and I got to my 13 years of age in good health 🐱.

[grzegkania]

Absolutely beautiful! What an amazing metaphor with the sky and clouds! And your statement that there are no spiritual paths explained in such a simple way: you cannot take a path from where you are to where you are.

[keithoyoung]

Hi everyone.I hope you all have a wonderful day.

[Aum_shantishantishanti]

I’m just gonna chill out then . Rupert just astounded me once again . These pointings to truth always inspire laughter from within myself . Stop the seeking . Ah I got it ! I’ve finally found the problem .. there isn’t one .

[leelanjoy]

Rupert since long time using "happiness" or "love" and creating confusion....and he continue telling that happiness is our nature...which is not true. He continues making confusion.

[InnerWorkWithEvan]

It's such a strong tendency to want a formula, teaching or technique to bring something specific if we do it "right." I always wanted that reward from being a good student 😄 Such a common story to have followed paths and not feel like it did accomplish what the mind imagined it would. I enjoy how Rupert breaks down the idea of a path with a destination.

[Evolveyouawakened]

This is so profound...I know what it means to be on a spiritual path for years and still wonder why I suffer why I struggle . But in just few minutes the truth in Rupert's words resound so loud. " YOU CANNOT TAKE A JOURNEY TO IT, you can only take a journey away from it! YOU CANNOT TAKE A PATH FROM WHERE YOU ARE TO WHERE YOU ARE

The day I said F it! To all the searching. The day I gave up the search. That is the day I realized I was looking for what I had all along

[kaitlinobrien]

Happiness and Peace the background of all feelings! Happiness is my nature! No paths to Happiness! No search No path. Peace o perfect beautiful Peace Thank you Darling Rupert 🌻💕💐🌼💐🌻💕

[jorgetfreitas]

The essence of being, the true nature of the mind, hovers above the storm clouds of suffering, so it is always contemplating the blue sky of happiness.
Remain in your true nature and have a good flight as an existence.
Thank you Rupert for pointing out the "departure gate".

[willekefarrington]

Listening and viewing this, a poem by the late John Welwood came to mind:

Forget about enlightenment.
Sit down wherever you are
And listen to the wind singing in your veins.
Feel the love, the longing, the fear in your bones.
Open your heart to who you are, right now, 
Not who you would like to be, 
Not the saint you are striving to become, 
But the being right here before you, inside you, around you.
All of you is holy.
You are already more and less
Than whatever you can know.
Breathe out, 
Touch in, 
Let go.
By John Welwood

In the same vain a poem from Antonio Machado

Caminante, son tus huellas
y nada más;
Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace el camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante no hay camino
sino estelas en la mar.

[edenrose]

The sharpest and brightest. Bless you, Rupert. Truth shines in your eyes.

[alexanderengler]

Thank you very much! If this is true - and my heart knows it is true - then part of the bodhisattva vow appears in a completely different light: "The paths to awakening are sublime. I vow to realize them all". But again, not, because it would be impossible to realize all the paths anyway. When one has found one's "treasure in the field" within oneself, there is both no path and an infinite number of...

[DavidVictorBrown]

Many, many, many thanks, Rupert! ❤
✨️😌✨️

[TheAmbamatamantrasvideos]

Amazing this patience of Rupert🙏 listening minutes to same questions he already knows for so long, that are being sad the same always only in different words

[baharalsharafani]

I totally agree with you, Happiness is enjoying off now in present moment, When you appreciate everything that you have in this moment and feeling at being in the peace.

[dr.susheelkhemariya]

wahAhaAh Wonderful Chamatkaric Vishmaypurna thanks gratitude Dhanyabad Dhanyabad Dhanyabad Dhanyabad Dhanyabad Dhanyabad Dhanyabad Dhanyabad Dhanyabad Rupertspira Dhanyabad Dhanyabad

[truthalwaysshines]

We are all Now as One Now 😃.. As seperate selves we certainly do wander around outside of ourselves for a long time. Thank You Rupert, your so clear

[kathrynphillips]

Absolutely love Ruperts explanations
of our true essential nature, Thankyou Rupert you never fail to help me understand we are always at peace in our hearts but its our heads that will always convince us otherwise 💗🙏💗