A student asks the great Stoic philosopher Epictetus, "What can I do to be successful" The wise teacher replies, "You’re making the wrong request. Instead, ask how to be adaptable to circumstances."
Training to walk the way is far more helpful than cogitating on ends-attainment. Like young fund investors, studying company operations returns far more value than seeking speculative tips.
In much the same way, true happiness is not found through some precious acquisition or idyllic state of worldly affairs. Learning how to progress step-by-step on one's awakening journey, on the other hand, assuredly leads to perfect peace.
The first step entails a recognition that we've been making the wrong request. Each emotion is a subtle statement silently exclaiming, "I know what will make me happy."
Conviction that we know best blinds us to truth. Hence this line from A Course in Miracles: "Do you prefer that you be right or happy?" Happiness is a choice, not a consequence.
But this choice is not made within the realm of bodies and brains. It is made in the mind. Which cannot be accessed until we gain a little willingness to consider, "Maybe everything I thought about finding lasting joy has been wrong." This opens the doorway to learning and begins the return voyage home.
Adaptability is not a stoic "grin and bear it" mentality. Rather, it's a framework for continually looking, with gentleness and without judgment, at how certain we are that the world, other people, and our body are the sources of joy and pain. Such a mindset shift leads to the most extraordinary sense of peace.
Join me in Thursday's class where we'll explore the practice of adaptability and how its lessons can teach us the way to serenity. I look forward to seeing you then.