Where is the bliss?
Have you been in bliss today? Last week? Most of you would probably answer "NO!" right now. Nothing is perfect right now. I get it. I often find myself saying something is bliss when I think that it feels perfect. But, let's question: is that really the only place that bliss is, in perfection? As I grapple with the term and this time in history, I realize that I have used this term ignorantly. For this, let us consider: What is perfect? Is bliss only when something feels perfect in the moment? And if so, is bliss something that comes and goes with the rise and fall of experience? Where is the bliss?
Michael Jackson once said that “[o]ut of the bliss comes magic, wonderment and creativity.” Deepak Chopra shares that “[n]othing is more important than reconnecting with your bliss. Nothing is as rich. Nothing is more real.” Bliss does sound perfect in these instances. But, then, I still don’t know what it is. And, how do we reach it? Is it something even to be reached?
I can not say that I have ever truly felt complete and utter bliss. I’ve heard people say that they’ve felt complete and utter bliss when in love or after sex...in those big heightened experiences, but it seems so exaggerated, so hand-to-the-forehead-fainty. One thing that I can say is that there are moments in which I have felt so close to the sweetness of life that I must have been in bliss. Am I assuming bliss to be lofty? Maybe. Yes.
Blissful moments feel unique, not something one feels everyday. Bliss has been found in some of the best moments of my life-- that I can recall. I don’t say all of the best moments because I can’t say I always recognize its presence. And sometimes, I have found myself in bliss and things were not what I would consider "the best." Still one thing is true: blissful moments are incredibly special. They are memorable. So what were they made out of? What caused them to be this for me in such a way that I remember it was there? The feeling was present. Somehow all the ingredients for a bliss-making experience were there.
I assert that experiences of great bliss come not from things happening that cause great joy, but rather from one’s ability to think and feel them as such. Rather than some elated experience, bliss is more like full and calm, fully supported in the moment, in the wholeness of life. You have to recognize it. One must be grateful to be in bliss and recognize their predicament to truly behold that word. Rather than overly ecstatic and crazy over heels, it is an experience that is rich and real, one that breeds magic...You can not chase it. One must allow it to emerge. Then you will be in it. Then you will be it.
Bliss is perfection, but not because the experience feels perfect by our human standards. Things are not perfect just because they feel great. That would be inept, unwholesome, and missing the true depth of life. If I believe that only my perfectly extraordinary feeling moments are blissful, I negate the space from which bliss is felt. Bliss is recognized as a result of pain, pain having had space to create a ledge, like water creates a creek, a hole, a groove. Pain, struggle, challenge, friction, each have the unique ability to reveal a new level, and thus a new low, a new faith, or a new support system, something unneeded until now, unfelt until needed. That is where the bliss is.
Bliss comes out of life’s experiences, all of them, as they cycle through us. Those full moments having need of the moments that helped us reach for brighter days. While bliss is something to be attained, it is not something that happens outside of the self. It is not something to reach beyond yourself to find. Bliss is found in the small, subtle places inside you, inside of me, inside of us all. We do not reach for it because the sun is shining and everything is perfect on the outside. We feel it, allow it to be, because the light is inside. In those moments our inner light is bright; We go all the way in; we are able to deeply notice bliss in gratitude, regardless of what we see because even this is somehow perfect.
Closer than your fingertips in all of the moments in which you can see clearly back to yourself with gratitude for what is, bliss is there. If in the moments when things don't feel extraordinarily special, if one can connect fully with the mourning, if we can go all the way into it, could it be possible to feel bliss inside then, too? I believe so.
I pray you are finding your way there now, even amidst the turmoil of our present-life circumstances.
Michael Jackson once said that “[o]ut of the bliss comes magic, wonderment and creativity.” Deepak Chopra shares that “[n]othing is more important than reconnecting with your bliss. Nothing is as rich. Nothing is more real.” Bliss does sound perfect in these instances. But, then, I still don’t know what it is. And, how do we reach it? Is it something even to be reached?
I can not say that I have ever truly felt complete and utter bliss. I’ve heard people say that they’ve felt complete and utter bliss when in love or after sex...in those big heightened experiences, but it seems so exaggerated, so hand-to-the-forehead-fainty. One thing that I can say is that there are moments in which I have felt so close to the sweetness of life that I must have been in bliss. Am I assuming bliss to be lofty? Maybe. Yes.
Blissful moments feel unique, not something one feels everyday. Bliss has been found in some of the best moments of my life-- that I can recall. I don’t say all of the best moments because I can’t say I always recognize its presence. And sometimes, I have found myself in bliss and things were not what I would consider "the best." Still one thing is true: blissful moments are incredibly special. They are memorable. So what were they made out of? What caused them to be this for me in such a way that I remember it was there? The feeling was present. Somehow all the ingredients for a bliss-making experience were there.
I assert that experiences of great bliss come not from things happening that cause great joy, but rather from one’s ability to think and feel them as such. Rather than some elated experience, bliss is more like full and calm, fully supported in the moment, in the wholeness of life. You have to recognize it. One must be grateful to be in bliss and recognize their predicament to truly behold that word. Rather than overly ecstatic and crazy over heels, it is an experience that is rich and real, one that breeds magic...You can not chase it. One must allow it to emerge. Then you will be in it. Then you will be it.
Bliss is perfection, but not because the experience feels perfect by our human standards. Things are not perfect just because they feel great. That would be inept, unwholesome, and missing the true depth of life. If I believe that only my perfectly extraordinary feeling moments are blissful, I negate the space from which bliss is felt. Bliss is recognized as a result of pain, pain having had space to create a ledge, like water creates a creek, a hole, a groove. Pain, struggle, challenge, friction, each have the unique ability to reveal a new level, and thus a new low, a new faith, or a new support system, something unneeded until now, unfelt until needed. That is where the bliss is.
Bliss comes out of life’s experiences, all of them, as they cycle through us. Those full moments having need of the moments that helped us reach for brighter days. While bliss is something to be attained, it is not something that happens outside of the self. It is not something to reach beyond yourself to find. Bliss is found in the small, subtle places inside you, inside of me, inside of us all. We do not reach for it because the sun is shining and everything is perfect on the outside. We feel it, allow it to be, because the light is inside. In those moments our inner light is bright; We go all the way in; we are able to deeply notice bliss in gratitude, regardless of what we see because even this is somehow perfect.
Closer than your fingertips in all of the moments in which you can see clearly back to yourself with gratitude for what is, bliss is there. If in the moments when things don't feel extraordinarily special, if one can connect fully with the mourning, if we can go all the way into it, could it be possible to feel bliss inside then, too? I believe so.
I pray you are finding your way there now, even amidst the turmoil of our present-life circumstances.
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu: May all beings everywhere be happy, healthy and free, and may our actions contribute in someway to that happiness and freedom for all.
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