Program My Happiness
Are you a happy person? What makes you happy?
Happiness is not as simple as we’d like to think. Take for example a dog. Why do some families buy a dog to increase their happiness while other families detest getting a dog? Why might one student jump for joy when getting a “B” on their math test and another student cry?
Anthony DeMello says, “What makes you happy or unhappy is not the world and the people around you, but the thinking in your head… Do you realize that you could have the finest looks and the most charming personality and the most pleasant of surroundings, and still be unhappy?”
What he’s getting at is that your happiness is directly related to the programming inside your head.
A student’s parents might program their son to think that getting an “A” on his math test is the only acceptable option. IF he gets an “A”, THEN his parents will accept him and he’ll be happy. A girl who grew up with a dog her whole life might think that IF she gets a dog when she leaves home, THEN she’ll be happy. You see, the fulfillment of these programmatic requirements inside the head determines the happiness, not the “A” or the “dog” itself.
It is true that being accepted by your parents or getting a dog after high school will bring flashes of excitement and pleasure, but we can’t mistake that for happiness.
DeMello continues, “If people want happiness so badly, why don’t they attempt to understand their false beliefs [due to the programming]? First, because it never occurs to them to see them as false or even as beliefs. They see them as facts and reality… Second, because they are scared to lose the only world they know: the world of desires, attachments, fears, social pressures, tensions, ambitions, worries, guilt, with flashes of the pleasure and relief and excitement which these things bring.”
We are being programmed daily by our family, friends, and culture. Adam and Eve, the first to be programmed, did not take the time to reflect on how the Deceiver was programming them with The Lie. So they ate. They thought it would make them happy, but it did not. This deception and programming has gone on even up till today.
So how do we un-program ourselves and then know how to live in God’s Reality? How do we get out of the Matrix and live in God’s Real world?
As you begin to read the bible and interact with others who are following Jesus, the light of Truth and the weight of Reality will begin to press into your darkness and start to expose your false beliefs and deconstruct the programming inside your head. Your thoughts and actions will be reconciled by the Spirit of God. You won’t fall prey to quick bursts of pleasure, but you’ll attach yourself to the rich roots of satisfaction in Him.
Happiness is not as simple as we’d like to think. Take for example a dog. Why do some families buy a dog to increase their happiness while other families detest getting a dog? Why might one student jump for joy when getting a “B” on their math test and another student cry?Anthony DeMello says, “What makes you happy or unhappy is not the world and the people around you, but the thinking in your head… Do you realize that you could have the finest looks and the most charming personality and the most pleasant of surroundings, and still be unhappy?”
What he’s getting at is that your happiness is directly related to the programming inside your head.
A student’s parents might program their son to think that getting an “A” on his math test is the only acceptable option. IF he gets an “A”, THEN his parents will accept him and he’ll be happy. A girl who grew up with a dog her whole life might think that IF she gets a dog when she leaves home, THEN she’ll be happy. You see, the fulfillment of these programmatic requirements inside the head determines the happiness, not the “A” or the “dog” itself.
It is true that being accepted by your parents or getting a dog after high school will bring flashes of excitement and pleasure, but we can’t mistake that for happiness.
DeMello continues, “If people want happiness so badly, why don’t they attempt to understand their false beliefs [due to the programming]? First, because it never occurs to them to see them as false or even as beliefs. They see them as facts and reality… Second, because they are scared to lose the only world they know: the world of desires, attachments, fears, social pressures, tensions, ambitions, worries, guilt, with flashes of the pleasure and relief and excitement which these things bring.”
We are being programmed daily by our family, friends, and culture. Adam and Eve, the first to be programmed, did not take the time to reflect on how the Deceiver was programming them with The Lie. So they ate. They thought it would make them happy, but it did not. This deception and programming has gone on even up till today.
So how do we un-program ourselves and then know how to live in God’s Reality? How do we get out of the Matrix and live in God’s Real world?
As you begin to read the bible and interact with others who are following Jesus, the light of Truth and the weight of Reality will begin to press into your darkness and start to expose your false beliefs and deconstruct the programming inside your head. Your thoughts and actions will be reconciled by the Spirit of God. You won’t fall prey to quick bursts of pleasure, but you’ll attach yourself to the rich roots of satisfaction in Him.
Labels: beliefs, Christianity, false, happiness, happy, program
posted by Tyler Zach at 7:34 PM
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