Connecting the dots of "WELLBEING" with "EXISTENTIAL UNHAPPINESS".

I saw the connection of the word “WELLBEING” (or “WELL-BEING”) as being opposite to or in contrast to “EXISTENTIAL UNHAPPINESS”. Happiness in general does lift one's wellbeing to an extent, but it does not equate fully to lasting wellbeing. But happiness manifested in existential form does sustain wellbeing fully.  Wellbeing is fully alive when it shows up as "existential happiness".

Rupert Spira in his book “The Nature of Consciousness” pointed out that “… the recognition of the fundamental reality of consciousness is the prerequisite and a necessary and sufficient condition for an individual’s quest for lasting happiness and, at the same time, the foundation of world peace.” And that “… the overlooking, forgetting or ignoring of this reality is the root cause of both the existential unhappiness^[1] that pervades and motivates most people’s lives and the wider conflicts that exist between communities and nations.”

Furthermore, “The consciousness-only model is not new. All human beings are at the deepest level essentially the same, therefore there must be a fundamental knowledge of ourselves that transcends the local, temporal conditioning that we acquire from our cultures and thus share with all humanity, irrespective of our political, religious or ideological persuasions.”

"Awareness or Consciousness is the open Unknowingness on which every experience is written." (Rupert Spira)

When we pursue the fundamental knowledge of consciousness it will eventually point to “the deeper knowing of the nature of one’s mind” and that “Everything that the mind knows is a reflection of its limitations.” And further enquiry on the nature of the mind “… could be reformulated as, ‘Who or what am I?’” The answer to this question as pointed out by Rupert Spira is the most profound knowledge that the mind can attain. It is the supreme intelligence.”

What is emerging for me is that self-enquiry, self-awareness, and self-realisation must be the fundamental aspects to one’s wellbeing and one’s lasting happiness at existential level. When we work on realising our full potential, the whole of person reaches out from the finite into to the infinite. 

When our consciousness and minds play in this infinite state of being at full potential through self-realisation - our wellbeing come alive – we are happier despite the uncertainty and challenges and the as-lived reality of our ups and downs in our daily lives bother us less because peace, lasting happiness and our wellbeing reside ‘there’ in our full potentialities simply waiting to be recognised.

I owe the content and thoughts above to the wealth and depth of wisdom shared by Rupert Spira. He gives me strength and inspiration, and through my own limitations, he also gives me glimpse of clarity that helps me to stay unwaveringly on course with the work I do at Being at Full Potential connected with the 'playing field' of human potential realisation.

"Man is nothing else but what he purposes, he exists only in so far he realises himself, ..." Jean-Paul Sarte

Written by Peter Leong

Being at Full Potential NZ

15 July 2020

[1] Italics mine.

[1] Italics mine