Many will tell you that meditation is the key to happiness: a way to achieve calm, serenity, and balance in life. But perhaps not everyone knows that meditation can lead to a form of happiness very different from what we expect. Sometimes it even seems to distance us from the traditional idea of happiness.
The Happiness We Avoid
Meditation doesn’t offer an escape from daily problems, nor does it provide instant relief from stress. On the contrary, it forces us to confront ourselves, to face our deepest thoughts, compelling us to look honestly at the parts of ourselves that we often prefer to avoid. Meditating can sometimes seem like a path to discomfort rather than the superficial happiness many people seek.
We are used to associating happiness with moments of instant pleasure: a carefree evening with friends, a victory at work, or a dream vacation. Meditation, on the other hand, teaches us to be still, to stop constantly chasing that instant gratification. It is a practice that invites us to find happiness not in what happens outside, but in what is within us.
The Confrontation with Oneself
Meditation requires us to sit with our discomfort and unease. For many, this is a source of distress. It’s difficult to accept that we can’t control everything around us and that true serenity doesn’t come from changing circumstances but from how we react to them. This awareness may seem like an obstacle to immediate happiness, but it is also the key to a deeper sense of well-being.
Meditation and Transformation
Meditation does not promise conventional happiness, at least not immediately. It takes us on an inner journey that is often uncomfortable, sometimes even painful. However, it is through this process of awareness and acceptance that we may discover a more authentic form of happiness. It’s not about a fleeting pleasure or an external result, but an inner peace that develops over time. Meditation teaches us that true happiness is not something we obtain from the outside but something we slowly cultivate by accepting every part of ourselves.
A Different Kind of Happiness
If you want a life free of deep reflections and seek light, and immediate happiness, perhaps meditation is not for you. But if you’re ready to discover another kind of happiness, one that doesn’t depend on external circumstances, meditation might prove to be a powerful tool. Meditation is often presented as a path to happiness and serenity. But the reality is much more complex. It is not a direct path to happiness, at least not the kind we’re accustomed to. As Swami Ambikananda points out: “You can meditate 22 hours a day, but in those two hours left you are a human being living in the physical world, and this aspect of reality doesn’t care if you’re enlightened or not.”
Meditation and Everyday Reality
Meditation does not exempt us from the challenges of everyday life. We can spend hours in deep reflection, but we are still people who must face the complexities of the physical world. Enlightenment, or any sense of tranquility we achieve during meditation, doesn’t erase the need to navigate conflicts, duties, and responsibilities in daily life. In other words, meditation is not an “escape route” from life’s difficulties, nor is it designed to make us feel constantly happy. As Swami Ambikananda further explains: “Meditation was not created to make us happy, but to help us combat illusions and find out who we truly are.” Meditation asks us to confront our inner “abyss,” and only through this process can we discover who we really are.
McMindfulness: The Commercialization of Meditation
The modern obsession with meditation, often labeled as McMindfulness by Ronald Purser, has turned this ancient practice into a consumable product, promising quick and superficial happiness. In McMindfulness, Purser criticizes the idea that meditation can be a tool to improve productivity or alleviate stress without addressing the root causes of these tensions. Purser denounces how meditation has been stripped from its spiritual context and turned into a consumer product. People are encouraged to meditate to “feel better” or to become more productive at work, but this approach ignores the true purpose of the practice. Meditation was not designed to enhance performance but to help us see through the illusions surrounding us.
Meditation as a Tool for Awareness, Not Happiness
In the end, meditation can be a powerful path toward awareness, but it was never meant to make us perpetually happy. On the contrary, it challenges us to confront truths we would rather avoid. It’s not an easy journey and certainly doesn’t lead to happiness in the conventional sense.
So, if you’re seeking immediate happiness, perhaps you should avoid meditation. But if you’re ready to face who you really are and the illusions that surround you, meditation might turn out to be one of the hardest, but also the most authentic, paths to true inner awareness.