The Bliss Experiment

What I learned from

THE BLISS EXPERIMENT

Sean Meshorer

WHAT IS BLISS?

00

Bliss

• Bliss is the ultimate state of consciousness or goal. It is the highest achievement in every religion.
• Bliss is the constant undisturbed state of inner joy.
• Bliss is never boring.

NOT THIS, NOT THAT

Part one

The different types of happiness are:

The happiness scale

Bliss

Numbness

Pleasure

Relief (false happiness)

Everyday happiness

Our goal is to reach bliss

01

• We fail at being happy because we focus on external solutions/things to make us feel whole

• Instead of looking outside of us we have to look within ourselves

Money and luxury don't generate happiness

• We are trained at a young age to look at material things to bring us comfort
• Wealth doesn't help us connect or understand others
• Depending our happiness on wealth and luxury tends to make us feel uncertain and insecure.

Sex and romance don't generate happiness

• Romantic relationships have little to do with genuine happiness
• Another person cannot ‘fix’ or complete us

Fame, beauty and power don't generate happiness

• The hidden meaning of these desires is that we want social acceptance, friends, love, self esteem, respect, recognition and/or existential comfort.

Habits

• Habits are thoughts, emotions or actions that we've repeated for a long time.

• Many of our failures and shortcomings are due to our bad habits

To gain control over your habits, you require four spiritual qualities:

• Awareness

• Concentration

• Willpower

• energy

LOOKING IN THE RIGHT PLACE

Part two

Amoung all our selves

(our future self, deepest self, lowest self, past self, present self)

There is only one

TRUE SELF

Let go

• To find your true self you must release all your fake selves that are harming or distracting you on your path to find bliss.
• It is impossible to ruminate about the past and feel bliss at the same time. Bliss is in the now moment

Forgive

• Forgiveness releases feelings of anxiety, depression and revenge, and creates compassion, wholeness, peace, wisdom and love inside of us. These feelings are the building blocks to bliss
• Forgiving is not the same as forgetting
• Remembering our past can propel us to new heights

Forget the future

• The future doesn't and will never exist, it is an illusion
• Now is the only reality, and the rest is a fantasy, illusion, dream or nightmare.
• Thinking about the future is a way to escape or avoid our present reality
• We can't learn or make spiritual progress if we are not in the present

The one true place to find bliss is in

The Present Moment

The present moment is a

state of relaxed concentration

DIGGING DEEPER

Part three

Be Present

03

• Finding bliss means to stay present but we have to learn to control our minds and understand that our minds are not us
• We need to purify the negatives thoughts, emotions and internal dialogue in our mind

The first step to purifying our minds is replacing negative thoughts with positive ones

An optimistic mind is the foundation of experiencing bliss

Assuming the worst in every situation is not beneficial or a good coping mechanism

Optimism does not require holding fantasies about the future

Optimism is the knowledge that we are not helpless

Personal mind control is the central tool for uncovering bliss

• The best way to turn around a negative mindset is to practice gratitude

• We barely notice the things that happen around us, with being in the present moment we must feel grateful for all we have

Gratitude activates awareness and helps us stay in the present moment

Another way to turn a negative mindset into positive one is to practice positive affirmations

Affirmations are like setting spiritual or mental goals for ourselves

Practicing affirmations helps us feel, notice and connect with superconsciousness.

BROADENING OUR DOMAIN

Part four

Although bliss is an inward experience

we shouldn't ignore or have a negative relationship with the outerworld.

We are our environment

and our environment is us

Vibrations

04

• Everything is essentially energy, being in a positive environment will help raise your vibrations
• Everything in our world emanates a vibrations, we should become aware of the positive vibrations as they positively impact our happiness
• Become aware of things that lift you up and get rid of things that bring you down

People emanate vibrations too, for genuine happiness we need to learn to cultivate strong positive relationships.

• Compassion is essential for bliss. It guides us away from self centered behavior

• Compassion is the ability to recognize suffering in others

• Compassion is a big step in breaking down the artificial barriers between the world and us

• Compassion is its own reward, we don't need to feel, want, see or expect others appreciation.

• Selfless services allow us to forget our self centered lives.
• By learning to serve without personal gain or certain outcomes we live in the now instead of the past or future

The ability to feel and radiate unconditional love is deeply tied to bliss

Love shouldn't stop at one relationship or just for our family, genuine love has no conditions, boundaries or limits.

• Meaning is not something we create, like bliss, it already surrounds us, we only need to see it
• Purpose is unique and individual, you can't find it by following others (others can help us)
• “Our life's purpose is being and doing whatever creates a seamless fit between our internal selves and our external environment”
• Happiness is dependent on meaning

“Bliss has little to do with your beliefs but everything to do with experience”

Making direct contact

Part five

The Nature of Bliss

05

• Bliss is difficult to describe, it is all around us, but so few people experience it because it is not an object or a thing.
• We can experience this at any moment, in any situation and through any channel.
• Bliss flows around us, through us, in every atom in the universe.

Meditation

• The most important bliss practice is meditation

• Meditation is not daydreaming, spacing out, sleeping or being passive

• The more we meditate the quieter our mind becomes and allows bliss to seep through.

• One specific variation of meditation that can be included throughout our whole day is called ‘japa’

Our goal is to make every moment a living meditation

Desires

• Desires are enemies of bliss. They are fleeting moments of pleasure or satisfaction that go away once we have obtained our desire.

• We constantly create desires (big or small) and they mean a combination of three things:

• We feel incomplete
• We think that an external object can solve our problems
• We form an emotional attachment to an object/thing

completing the journey

Part six

Bliss is yours

06

• The effects of bliss are far more than personal fulfillment

• When you feel bliss, you are not interested in anything that generates evil, dissension or disharmony.

• The highest solutions to the world's problems are not rules, treaties, laws, prisons or punishments, but spreading positivity.

• Positive and negative emotions are contagious

• We can give to others what we don't have. If we are miserable, no matter our services, we will spread misery.

“Bliss is our highest calling and potential”

You will find bliss