“Happiness is the only worthy prayer.” So wrote Franklin Merrell-Wolff in his book, “Pathways through to Space.” I have had that book on my shelf for many years. My mother passed it on to me when she downsized after my father’s death. I have tried to read it several times without gaining much clarity. I feel that his wisdom is way above my own. But I took it down from the shelf today and opened it at random to this:

“Happiness is the only worthy prayer. Happiness is virtue and gloom is sin.” I interpret this according to my own understanding. I am only happy when I am awake and not in the clutches of the ego, which always wants more. It is insatiable.

This morning I awoke quite rested and determined to have the simplest day possible. After breakfast I sat for awhile. Then I took a shower and sat some more. That reminds me of a teaching story from a frenchman who was studying with an awakened man. His teacher told him that his only duty was to be happy. This threw the student into great dismay, for he was decidedly unhappy.

After leaving the teacher, he did something that made him happy. He went into a cafe and had a wonderful breakfast that included a croissant. It was so good that without questioning himself, he went to another cafe and had a second breakfast. He did this for a third time and felt perfectly comfortable having done that.

My duty as a writer is to write what makes me happy. Opening the book at random, remembering the teaching story, typing it up for you to read, that is my happiness. Most people would not want to exchange their life for mine; neither would I want to swap my life out for someone else’s. Our own happiness is unknown to anyone but the Self that we are.

My wish for you today, gentle reader, is to have as many treats as you like, leaving guilt totally out of the equation. Maybe then you can move on to much riskier situations in which your happiness comes at the cost of someone else’s. What do you do then? Do you sell out? Do you convince yourself that you are your brother’s keeper? Vernon Howard roared something shocking at us once. “You are not your brother’s keeper!” For unawakened people, this might make you seem hard or cruel, even. To speak personally again, my main job is to learn that my happiness is my prayer.” Think about that one….and try doing good for yourself in some small way today. Let that be your prayer.

Vicki Woodyard