Seeking, Understanding, and Embracing Lasting Fulfillment
Discovering Your Unchanging Self as the Source of Infinite Fulfillment
What Does It Mean to Seek Lasting Fulfillment?
To pursue what is lasting—aka infinite—can appear daunting and mysterious. The concept itself feels both formal and perhaps a bit foreboding, as it seems to point toward a goal that is neither concrete nor easily attainable. Unlike tangible objects, lasting fulfillment cannot be grasped or experienced directly. It lacks physical features, and even things we associate with the word, such as the car brand “Infiniti,” are not truly lasting or infinite. Faced with its intangibility, it is natural to wonder: Why would anyone seek it, and what is to be gained from such a quest?
The Universal Search for Lasting Satisfaction
Every pursuit in life is, at its core, a search for something enduring—something that not only satisfies but also brings a deep, ongoing sense of well-being. Our day-to-day activities often provide fleeting moments of satisfaction, temporarily quieting this search. Yet these moments are transient. Even a series of enjoyable events or activities, no matter how fulfilling, eventually lose their appeal or simply cannot be sustained forever. Over time, the following limitations arise:
· The experiences or objects we enjoy inevitably fade or disappear.
· We may lose the drive to keep seeking or creating such experiences.
· Our interests shift, prompting us to look for new sources of satisfaction.
· Circumstances or timing may no longer align for these experiences to continue.
The Unstoppable Nature of Change
Another element beyond our control is time itself. No matter what we do, we cannot halt the flow of change. In this way, everyone is caught in a dilemma—torn between wanting something permanent and being unable to achieve it through ordinary means. So, what options remain?
Beyond Distraction: Is Resolution Possible?
One common approach is to stay busy, filling our lives with activity to avoid confronting this fundamental challenge. However, this strategy offers only a temporary fix. All actions and their results are bound by time; whatever arises will eventually pass away. Thus, constant doing does not provide a lasting solution.
Recognizing the Ever-Present Constant
The only true resolution is to realize that the solution is already present. The only constant in all our experiences is ourselves. You—yourself—are the stable presence amid the continual changes of life. People and things may come and go, and even your body and mind undergo transformation. Yet you remain as the witness to all these changes, untouched and unchanged by them. As this witnessing presence, you remain steady despite the fluctuations around you.
The Infinite Self: Fulfillment Through Knowing
If your true nature is lasting—if you are, in fact, what is infinite, complete, and fulfilled—why does this not seem or feel obvious? The answer lies in habitual identification with changing objects, experiences, and roles. Rarely do we focus on our unchanging, abiding self.
To truly recognize this reality, it is not a matter of doing, but of knowing—gaining clear understanding that, just as 2 + 2 = 4 is a fact that does not change, so too is your essential nature constant. Only by discovering how this is true, and by pursuing and realizing the finer details of this knowledge, can feelings of lack, incompleteness, and limitation be fully resolved.
In Optimum Meditation, the format that is utilized establishes this vision and understanding, thereby providing the meditator with an all-encompassing outcome that begins and ends with seeing and being self-fulfilled.
