Is achieving happiness easier said than done for a person with a worldly life, career and, family?

This is all very inspiring, you might say, but what good is it to me in my daily life, where I have a family and a job and spend most of my time in circumstances very different from those enjoyed by sages and hermits? Yet the wise man is indeed relevant to our lives in that he strikes a note of hope: he shows me what I could become. He has trod a path open to all, each step of which is a source of enrichment. We can’t all become Olympic javelin athletes, but we can all learn to throw the javelin and we can develop some ability to do so. You don’t have to be Andre Agassi to love playing tennis. In every sphere of human activity there are sources of inspiration whose perfection, far from discouraging us, in fact whets our enthusiasm by holding out an admirable vision of that to which we aspire. Isn’t that why the great artists, the men and women of conviction, the heroes, are beloved and respected?

Spiritual practice can be enormously beneficial. The fact is, it is possible to undergo serious spiritual training by devoting some time every day to meditation. More people than you might think do so, while leading regular family lives and doing absorbing work. The positive benefits of such a life far outweigh the few problems of schedule arrangement. In this way we can launch an inner transformation that is based in day-to-day reality.

When I was working at the Institut Pasteur and immersed in Parisian life, the few moments I reserved every day for contemplation brought me enormous benefits. They lingered like a scent in the day’s activities and gave them an entirely new value. By contemplation I mean not merely a moment of relaxation, but an inward turning of the gaze. It is very fruitful to watch how thoughts arise, and to contemplate the state of serenity and simplicity that is always present behind the scrim of thoughts, be they gloomy or upbeat. This is not as complicated as it might seem at first glance. You need only give a little of your time to the exercise in order to feel its impact and appreciate its fruitfulness. By gradually acquiring through introspective experience a better understanding of how thoughts are born, we learn how to fend off mental toxins. Once we have found a little bit of inner peace, it is much easier to lead a flourishing emotional and professional life. Similarly, as we free ourselves of all insecurities and inner fears (which are often connected to excessive self-centeredness), we have less to dread and are naturally more open to others and better armed to face the vagaries of existence.

No state, church, or despot can insist on our obligation to develop human qualities. It is up to us to make that choice. As geneticist demographer Luca Cavalli-Sforza and his son Francesco so eloquently put it:

“Our inner freedom knows no limits other than those we impose on it or allow to be imposed on it. And that freedom also holds great power. It can transform an individual, allow him to nurture all his capacities and to live every moment of his life in utter fulfillment. When individuals change by bringing their consciousness to maturity, the world changes too, because the world is made up of individuals.”

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