“Misery is complexity. Happiness is simplicity” – Lester Levenson

 

I wanted to touch on an idea that has always intrigued me and the more I open myself up to it and put it into practice in my life, the more evident it becomes in my reality. That idea is simply that as seekers of truth, the more complicated something is, the further it is away from ultimate truth. The more we can simplify things in our lives, the closer we come to what is the genuine Truth or Way.

So simplicity is key, and cutting away all the unnecessary fat so to speak, can clear our connection to the Source that is within us all. It’s a simple formula to abide by in our lives to help keep us grounded and on the right path. When we can do this more and more in our lives, we find ourselves genuinely more happy and content. This has a lot also to do with the fact that things become more and more effortless for us as well.

We can see the idea of complexity being the norm, and almost praised in our society, so in many ways people tend to resist this idea because it is so prevalent and ingrained. It’s almost as if we are taught that the more complex an idea or program(s), system, solution etc., is to get a certain desired result, the more effort has been put into it, and hence people many times feel more of a sense of accomplishment. But usually this is just the ego talking. The truth of the matter is though, is that many things can actually be really simple and easy that seemingly are not.  

It doesn’t always have to be some ten, twenty or thirty step process that takes forever to get where you want to be. But in some cases, entire industries are based on complication, so we are brainwashed into thinking it has to be this way, when it doesn’t. There’s a lot of money to be made in keeping things complicated, so keep that in mind. It also is a good way to control people and keep them dependent upon something outside themselves or keep them submerged in an on going, sometimes unnecessary process that delays direct contact with a simple solution.

In fact, when someone does something or drops something simply, without going through all of the complicated motions so to speak, it almost seems unreal, or impossible to believe. What this really means is that one is taking things to a new, higher level is all. Simplicity is the gateway. A big part of this though, is also one’s belief or quality of consciousness that this is possible.

Since being genuinely happy is our natural state of being from following a simpler more grounded path, it is authentic.  Complexity on the other hand includes (amongst other things) over-analyzing, over-thinking, not trusting yourself or your instincts and doubting your own power.  In the end complexity is a very restricting and limiting way to live and approach things, and just obscures our direct access to happiness, because happiness is not complex.

In the light (or darkness) of what the norm in our society is and what is expected of us, we have to have a solid, unshakeable state of mind and belief in ourselves that we can do things better and differently, or in this case more simply. Give it a shot and see what happens, if worse comes to worse you can always go back to your old complicated ways.