How do we become happy, where everything feels good? There are “cloudy days” that whatever you do you feel gloomy, and depressed, while there are “sunny days” where one feels great no matter what is occurring around you. Some will try to find happiness in drugs or alcohol. But look what destruction drugs and alcohol consumption has done to the quality of family life. Some try to find happiness in the physical world, but all too often fall back to drugs and alcohol, and eventually depression. Some also try to find happiness in a religion and faith; but do I need to say any more. If someone could find the ingredients for happiness and bottle it, they can make a fortune!
But some say that everything valuable in our lives is free. Can we get happiness for free? In the Book of Prophecy (Ofudesaki), God tells us that if we remove greed, arrogance, miserliness, covetousness, and self-love from our minds, we can become spirited or happy. Let us go back in history. Was Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Oyasama, and Mother Teresa spirited? I would say definitely yes; they were always spirited and happy no matter what environment or situation they were in. They are prime example of God’s messengers, showing us how to be happy in life.
But how do we remove these evils from our minds to become happy? How do we remove the thought of arrogance, when you feel that you have been wronged? Arrogance often leads to actions of anger and retribution, which often reinforces the origin of arrogance in our minds. It is the same with greed, where the more we act on our greed the more we want. In the Book of Prophecy is the following verse:
When you calm your mind step by step and ponder
It will change into clear water (pure mind). 2-26
God is telling us to acknowledge the evils (arrogance, greed, covetousness, miserliness, and self love) in our minds. God then tells us to calm our minds. He is telling us not to act on these evil thoughts. When we continue to resist these evil thoughts when provoked or tempted by what is occurring around us, these thoughts eventually extinguish themselves, and our minds become more pure. God tells us that when this occurs our minds will become pure; and we will become spirited. But the positive change in mind is only the beginning, the beginning of a joyous future for eternity!
