(This is Part 15 of a series. Go back to Part 14.)
I'd like to codify what's gone before in these articles into what I call the "Three Golden Questions." I call them "golden" because I believe that, alone, they can transform a human life if dwelled upon sincerely and over time.
Here are the Three Golden Questions:
1) How can I be happy?
2) How can I appreciate reality-as-it-is?
3) How can I nurture the happiness of the world?
If you find that it's difficult to ask the questions or if you feel some resistance to them, try saying them this way:
1) How could I be happy if I wanted to be?
2) How could I appreciate reality-as-it-is if I wanted to?
3) How could I nurture the happiness of the world if I wanted to?
It's also interesting and useful to add the phrase "right now" at times:
How can I be happy right now?
How can I appreciate reality-as-it-is right now?
How can I nurture the happiness of the world right now?
Another good variation is to add the phrase "in this situation," especially useful in challenging circumstances:
How can I be happy in this situation?
How can I appreciate reality-as-it-is in this situation?
How can I nurture the happiness of the world in this situation?
The Three Golden Questions are meant to be dwelled upon at length. But needless to say, we can benefit from other types of questions as well, such as the Appreciation, General-Outcome and Specific-Outcome questions covered earlier. These latter types of questions are best reviewed during a specific time each day, such as upon awakening or before going to sleep
The Three Golden Questions, in contrast, are designed more like Zen koans, something for the mind to chew on, dwell on, meditate on so that they sink deeper and deeper into the wellsprings of our being, eventually creating a profound shift in our relationship to our existence.
Now let's take each of the Three Golden Questions and look into it a bit further:
(This is the end of Part 15. Go to Part 16.)
—jim sloman, 9.10.03 for 9.25.04
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