Have you ever really contemplated what motivates your deepest desires? I'm not referring to the desires themselves but rather...what inspires them. What about your everyday choices and experiences? Although they may seem insignificant, they are still derived from an innate part of you that is always seeking happiness. In essence, happiness motivates your entire existence regardless of your intentions. Most of the time, this motivation is subconscious but it definitely manifests in your consciousness when you really want to experience being happy. This is particularly the case when you acknowledge you are happy. Oftentimes, you may just be happy and attach something you or someone else said or did to cause you to feel that way. This might even come from a natural even such as a beautiful day or the birth of a child.

What is happiness and how does it manifest according to Truth? According to Wikipedia, happiness is "a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy". This is certainly a viable definition but if you explore even deeper, what causes these states to exist? The Nexus Complex presents Truth will illustrate the answer is an acknowledgement of benefit to the self. Since your very existence is supremely important to you, it's not difficult to see that what you think or believe benefits you defines your understanding of happiness. However, this can be quite misleading and is often misinterpreted by human beings. For instance, a serial killer might think that murdering others produces the experience of happiness. Likewise, a person who helps the needy may think the same thing. Although the two approaches to achieve happiness certainly oppose one another, both have the same goal in mind. In reference to the classical definition, both might induce a state of emotional and mental well being characterized by contentment or joy for each of these two people. Now, let us get back to what Truth says about self-benefit. This does not simply include "feelings" or "emotions" of well-being but instead, it refers to all aspects of self-benefit including physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. This would include any form of personal conceptual or experiential existence. So, what really produces true benefit for a person? Truth advises there is only one thing that can promote this state of being in its highest sense: Love. In contrast, any form of Fear will restrict this from occurring. Why is this the case? It's really quite simple. The mechanics of Love inherently produce the purest form of well-being to a sapient being (i.e. humans) because it frees the person from any harmful effects caused by Fear and it's manifestations such as anger, resentment, guilt, deceit, jealousy, etc.

Try looking at it from this perspective. Love and Fear are mutually exclusive in that Love cannot exist in the same feeling, thought, word, action, or experience with Fear (and vice versa). This is analogous to light not being able to exist in the same space as darkness. Therefore, Truth illustrates that Love and Fear cannot actually co-exist in the same moment. We may perceive they can but in reality, they cannot. It also advises that Love will always and in all ways be beneficial to the self while Fear will inevitably result in self-harm. Thus, since this is the case, Love is the only source of happiness while Fear inhibits this experience. Moreover, there's a subtle premise here that most people fail to observe and that is to produce the experience of happiness, you must love yourself and others equally and unconditionally. Why? It's because conditional Love places requirements on the self and others. If these requirements are not satisfied, Fear will be introduced as a protection mechanism to preserve happiness and thus...Love (in its highest form) cannot occur. For example, someone may give a gift to a friend expecting a return on their investment of time, energy, and money. As such, a requirement of reciprocation has been placed on the friend. If the friend doesn't respond in a way that satisfies the requirement, Fear will manifest in the giver as a way to maintain their sense of happiness from being 'wronged". This might be expressed as anger or resentment, which in essence, restricts their capacity to experience happiness. The key here is understand that if you attach your happiness to something or someone over which you have no control, you are setting yourself up for Fear to be realized in your life. As a result, you will be limiting your potential to experience Love and therefore...happiness. The simple remedy for this is to eliminate your attachments of happiness to people, objects, or ideas since Truth dictates they are unable to provide the experience in the first place! 

So, where does happiness come from? As you can see, we're about to take this process full-circle to the premise of this article. If your deepest desire is to experience happiness and Truth states that participating in Love is the only way to achieve this goal...you are the only one capable of producing your own experiences of happiness. Furthermore, the only way to do this is to love yourself and others with no strings attached. Where do you think the basis for The Golden Rule came from? It came from these fundamental mechanics of Love and Happiness governed by Truth. This is frequently misunderstood by so many people because their perceptions of benefit do not coincide with what Truth dictates as being actually beneficial. The inevitable results of these misinterpretations are the harmful consequences of Fear.

In closing, what tools do you think you possess to create experiences of Love, Fear, Happiness (or any other experience)? The answer lies in the only thing you possess to create your life...the power of choice. Specifically, your choice to feel, think, say, and/or do. This is all you can do because it is the only thing you are capable of doing. You create in every moment and there are no other available options. In other words, you cannot not create a choice. So, acknowledge your innate desire to be happy and go create it regardless of what you encounter since the responsibility for what you experience lies completely with you!

I'd like to thank you very much for your time and I hope this article has helped to get you thinking a little deeper about your desire for happiness and how Truth advises it can be accomplished. I welcome any comments, debates, or discussions so feel free to participate!