>Republished from my newsletter, Nikki’s Sacred Space, Spring 2008

The spiritual life can often seem like a drag, right?  For those of us who have been living consciously, or at least trying, we may wondering, what for, especially if we are still struggling with the same issues?  Isn’t ignorance bliss?

Amidst my struggles, I have wondered the same thing. Why can’t I be like one of those people who go about their lives not questioning anything and appearing happy?  Why do we I need to know everything, and keep digging as my husband says?

Here’s a condensed version of what a story Deepak Chopra shared on the PBS Special, The Happiness Prescription to encourage myself and you, to keep digging:

There once was a sudha who asked a philosopher questions about life that the philosopher couldn’t answer. Since he could not answer, the philosopher went about his way and saw a fisherwoman who was the happiest woman in the world, playing with her grandchildren.  He approached the woman and asked her questions:
“Do you know where thoughts come from? Do you experience suffering?  Do you have a soul?”

The woman looked at him and said, “Leave me alone. I don’t have time to think about such things. I am the happiest woman in the world.”

The philosopher went back to the the sadhu and said, “You fool, here you have spent 40 years in meditation and self-reflection and here there is a woman who is the happiest woman in the world and has never asked herself any of these questions.”

The sadhu said, “I don’t want that kind of happiness.”

As Deepak asked, “Do you want happiness in ignorance or happiness in enlightenment?”

Today’s Soul Tip:


Keep digging.  There is enlightened happiness down there somewhere.