If people want happiness so badly, why doesn’t it occur to them to question their false beliefs? First, because it never occurs to them to see them as false or even as beliefs. They see them as facts. So deeply have they been programmed. Second, because they are scared to lose the only world that they know. The world of desires, attachments, fears, social pressures, tensions, ambitions, worries and guilt with the flashes of excitement, pleasure and relief these things bring. Think of someone who is afraid to let go of a nightmare because after all that’s the only world he knows. There, you have a picture of yourself and other people. If you wish to attain to lasting happiness you must be ready to hate father, mother and even your own life and to take leave of all of your possessions. How? Not by renouncing or giving them up. Because whatever you give up violently, you are forever bound to. But rather by seeing them for the nightmare they are. And then, whether you keep them or not, they will have lost their grip over you, their power to hurt you. And you will be out of your nightmare and darkness, your fear, your unhappiness. So, spend some time looking at each of these things you cling to for what it really is. A nightmare that causes you excitement and pleasure on the one hand, but also worry, insecurity, tension, unhappiness on the other. Father and mother? Nightmare. Husband or wife? Nightmare. Children, brothers and sisters? Nightmare. All your possessions? Nightmare. Your life as it is now? Nightmare. Every single thing you cling to and have convinced yourself that you cannot be happy without? Nightmare. Then you will hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even your own life, your life as you live it now. And you will seriously take leave of all of your possessions — that is you will stop clinging — and thus have destroyed their capacity to hurt you. Then at last, you will have discovered that mysterious state that cannot be described or uttered. The state of abiding happiness and peace. And you will understand how true it is that everyone who stops clinging to brothers or sisters or father or mother or land or houses is repaid a hundred times over and enters a state of timelessness called, eternal life. If a man wants to sue you for your shirt, give him your coat as well. And if a man in authority wants you to go one mile, go with him two. Take a look at the way you have been put together and the kind of existence you are leading. Inside of your head, there is a programming, a set of demands about how things should be. And about how you want things to be. Who did the programming? Not you. It wasn’t you who decided how you want things to be. The programming was done by your parents, your society, your culture, your religion, your past experiences. They’re the ones that have dictated how the world of things and people should be. And what your wants and values and tastes and attitudes and desires should be. No matter where you go, your computer, your programming goes along with you and is active and operating at each conscious moment of the day, imperiously insisting that its demands be met. By the world, by people and by you. If the demands are met, the computer allows you to be peaceful and happy. If they are not met, the computer generates negative emotions within you even when you’re not responsible. For instance, when other people don’t live up to your expectations, the computer torments you. It torments you with frustration or anger or bitterness. Or another example. When things are not in your control or the future is uncertain, your programming insists that you must experience anxiety, tension or worry. Then you spend a lot of energy coping with these emotions and you generally cope by expending a