How to Find Lasting Happiness: My Contemplation of Verse 35 of the Tao Te Ching

Dr. Dyer's book is Change your Thoughts--Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao.

Today, I am focusing on verse 35 of the Tao Te Ching, specifically this portion:

All men will come to him

who keeps to the one.

They flock to him and receive no harm,

for in him they find peace, security, and happiness.

Music and dining are passing pleasures,

yet they cause people to stop.

How bland and insipid are the things of this world

when one compares them to the Tao!

Pleasure comes in many forms.  Easting a delicious cake can be wondrous.  Drinking the finest liquor can be enjoyable.  Visiting a favorite vacation spot can recharge the batteries.  Even spending time with a loved one can bring happiness.  

Unfortunately, desire can be a trap.  An addiction or habit takes a hold of someone. He/She keeps seeking to be satisfied.  The satisfaction is fleeting.  It is unattainable.  

One gets a false sense of satisfaction from a constant craving.  

To strive for something will never yield satisfaction.  It's a never-ending cycle.  We must break away from that cycle.  Instead, we should seek the spiritual pleasantries from the God--the Source of everything.  Only what God provides can truly fill us up.

Tap into what God has to offer--peace and joy.

How do we experience the joys of life?  We see, touch, smell, and hear that which we enjoy.  How about that which God provides?  We can't sense God, but we can rejoice when He gives us true peace, joy, and a sense of security.  To fully appreciate those pleasantries with appreciation, what can we do?  

Following are some points to remember about earthly pleasures versus eternal happiness: 

1. Understand that the pleasures of life are fleeting.

2. Understand that what God offers is eternal.

3. Stop striving for that which does not bring lasting happiness.

4. Appreciate what God provides.

5. Seek God and His provision.

We should truly plug into the Tao, The Source of everything.  We could all enjoy peace, joy, and security.  People would flock to us.  They would see the joy in our hearts.  We would then be able to point people to God, who supplies all our needs; they would then see that He even grants us our desires, as He sees fit.

Thanks for reading today's post.  

I appreciate it.  

I hope this post blesses you, my dear readers.

I've got some questions for you: Are you living only for the next pleasurable event?  Or are you seeking spiritual joy, which no one can take away?  I pray we all look past the pleasures of life.  The physical pleasures of this world do not last forever; whereas, the happiness God gives is eternal.

May God bless you, my beloveds, with His wisdom and peace, in Jesus' name.  Amen!

This has been an entry for Wisdom Wednesdays.

I am currently drawing inspiration from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer's book and the 81 verses of the Chinese wisdom book the Tao Te Ching.