What is happiness? Joy? Peace?

Three words that are often used synonymously. All three have worldly counterfeits. All three have meaning in the realm of Spirit. One is, perhaps, more useful than the other two.

We'll start with the easy one. Happiness. This word is thrown around more in American culture almost as much as the word "fun." (Almost.) We won't even bother with defining it in worldly parameters because, as with all things based on separation, it means different things to different people. In the truest sense, happiness would be defined as our true state. Joyfulness is our true state. Peacefulness is our true state.

If we are truly in a state of happiness/joy/peace, then the question becomes, "So why aren't we continually aware of it?"

The reason is that the happiness/joy/peace of the world all have worldly traits, such as opposites and limitation. The world will let you be "happy," but only within limits. Also, the worldly state of happiness is defined by its opposite, sadness. In the world, you can't experience one without experiencing the other. Happy is how we feel when we're not sad; sad is how we feel when we're not happy. This is the nature of the human mind.

This is not true happiness.

True happiness has no opposite. True joy never ends. True peace has no beginning. All three are eternal, limitless, and without counterpart in this world. Our human minds cannot comprehend them.

So why even talk or write about them?

Because they exist, they are fact, and they are our natural state. The human experience is not real, is not fact, and is not our natural state.

We can catch glimpses of real happiness and peace in this world, but the only ones who can hold it perpetually in their awareness don't stick around too long.

I guess the closest you can get to real joy in this world is to realize that this world isn't real.