Contemplative Question

“Deep down, is there something you want even more than happiness?"

This question surfaced during a coaching conversation today, while I was helping a client explore his beliefs about the nature and source of happiness.

At one point, I had an insight: the belief that “happiness comes from within” can be just as limiting as the belief that it’s found outside ourselves. The pithy (and painfully impractical) teaching “Happiness is uncaused” came to mind. I found myself wondering: why are we even trying to locate the source of happiness at all?

Then something more fundamental arose: Do I even want to be happy all the time?

I realized I didn’t. Not really. Because happiness only means something in contrast to sadness, just as light means something in contrast to darkness. Everything exists in relationship to its opposite—yin and yang, tension and release.

From there, a deeper question emerged: “Is there something I want even more than happiness?"

Something more primordial. More essential. And could I feel into that—not as a concept to define, but as a presence to sense, beyond what thought or language could capture?