Truth is that which never changes. There is a truth in life, in nature, and it is:
Being is primary. Being is first, and all else proceeds from Being.
Like the ocean and the waves, the ocean is. Waves come and go, changing, ephemeral. Ocean is. First, last and always.
Being is. We continue to think that having is primary. That if I have something--the right job, the right amount of money, the right lover--then I will do something that will bring me happiness. That will bring me to the state of Being. Having leading to Doing leading to Being. This in spite of the fact that never in the history of the world has this equation succeeded in bringing lasting happiness to anyone.
Being is first.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna, 'Nistraigunyo Bhavarjun,' or 'Go beyond the three gunas,' the three gunas meaning this physical world, this world of the senses. Go beyond this world, Arjuna. When seeking the truth of life, these things in the relative world will only confuse you.
A few verses later, Krishna says, 'Yogestah kuru karmani,' or 'Established in Being, perform action.' When we have established ourselves in Being, when we have dropped down out of this realm of things and action, of having and doing, we will find ourselves in Being, and this is where we find the truth of ourselves. This is where we find the next right course of action. Established in Being, we will know what to do. We will know when to do it. We will be given the strength to do it, the will to do it, the idea to do it. Whatever it turns out to be.
Being is at the center of everything. When we know ourselves as this center of everything, all that we do is filled with the Bliss that is the nature of Being. All that we have, or receive, based upon that doing, will contain that Bliss.
When I choose to meditate for my twenty minutes, twice a day, I am signaling to the universe, to nature, that Being is primary to me. I am saying that I want nothing more than to be at one with nature itself. Rather than seeking happiness, I am capturing the source of happiness. The source of everything. And nature celebrates its capture by me. Because now there is one more outlet for the bliss of nature, one more errant evolutionary experiment who has found his way back.
Today I will remember that the source of happiness is not without, but is within, and if I choose to seek it there it will let itself be found.
 Fountain, Bowling Green Park, Lower Manhattan, NY
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