The Simpsons show us a family of unique characters that all have their quirks, funny flaws, and lovable moments. This is a very good representation of a happy family that co-exists and accepts each other’s strengths, shortcomings, and silliness.

The Simpsons represents how humor throughout the day makes everything colorful, bright, and light. Yet, buried within all this humor and fun, we have some profound statements:

Homer: “It takes two to lie. One to lie, and one to listen.”
—Homer was addressing Marge and letting her know he was not participating in her lie. If you let someone lie to you, you are part of the lie.

Mrs. Krabappel: “Most of you will never fall in love, and will marry out of fear of dying alone.”
—We hope that isn’t true but we have seen too many examples to write off this bit of wisdom.

Security systems salesman: “But surely you can’t put a price on family.”
Homer: “I wouldn’t have thought so either, but here we are.”
—Homer, who can’t afford a security system, buys a gun. He would like to be able to afford better. He is talking about the many fathers would like to protect their families in the best possible way but can’t afford to.

Homer: “Facts are meaningless. You can use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely true. Facts schmacts.”
—We all know of cases where people twist facts to suit their purposes, so Homer is right on target there too. You can say, “All dogs have hair. My cat has hair. Therefore, my cat is a dog.” It sounds factual, but, clearly, it is not.
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These are just a few of the gems of wisdom from the Simpsons about the reality of family and social life in our times.

The entire unconscious is a dark area. In our awake state, we participate in three basic states of awareness, one of which is the totally awake and aware state known as “consciousness.” Other states are the subconscious, cosmic consciousness, and the unconscious state.

The subconscious is available to us through hypnosis, meditation, dreams, and other methods. It motivates many of our actions, even if we think we are acting in full consciousness. It is in the background of our lives, like the submerged part of the iceberg.

The unconscious is what existed before the subconscious came into being but it is still you. It is before you were in your mother’s womb. It is pre-thought and ever-existing. It has nothing to do with the mind, the brain, language, human experience, or anything else we can conceive of. It is the Universe within but it is not aware of itself.
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Like the subconscious mind, it too, is available to us. While the subconscious brings some drama of past lives and repressed memories of this life, the Unconscious state can bring deep peace. The path is through spiritual contemplation, meditation, yoga, and the pointers of mystical beings. It can never be described in words and is blessedly, eternally dark.

We pay a price for not having inner peace.

We pay a terrible price for every fearful and hateful thought that inflicts its path of destruction on the body. We pay the price of an anxious life when we do not know how to find peace within.

We pay the price for not having boundaries in our lives and allowing energy vampires destroy our peace.
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Inner peace and contentment are free. They cannot be bought. But all the things that stand in the way of inner peace cost us dearly. They have consequences now and in the future. They can be destroyed and replaced. But peace is always there for the asking and costs nothing.

I would say it is the other way around. When you are enlightened, then you think right thoughts. It is true that the Buddha listed “right thought” as part of the Noble Eightfold Path. But he was referring to living a life free from suffering. Being enlightened is more than just the cessation of suffering.

An enlightened person’s body may suffer, yet at the same time, he or she is aware that they are not their body. That is enlightenment. When we realize that we are not our bodies and we are not our minds. We clearly see that we are Spiritual beings inhabiting the body for a duration, with a mind that helps us navigate through the physical world.

We cannot monitor every thought we think. They are too many and it is ridiculous to sit all day, every day saying “This is a right thought, this is a wrong thought.” That is not going to lead to any kind of enlightenment and may even lead to madness. And who is going to tell us what is a right thought and what is a wrong thought? Organized religion has tried that for centuries with very little success, judging by the state of the world.
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Therefore, enlightenment bypasses thought altogether. Thoughts appear and disappear automatically. When we think we are our thoughts and their whimsical patterns, we are clearly not in an enlightened state. But if we go beyond thought and allow our minds to be the wonderful tools that they are and nothing more, we are in a much more enlightened state.

Peace is always within. It is never “out there.” It is not in a place. It can never be tied into any location.

Once I was sitting by a quiet pond. It was so peaceful, my heart was singing. Soon, however, the lawnmower from a nearby house started up. The a leaf-blower chimed in with its raspy roar. A wood-chipper added its clatter to the overwhelming noise. Someone else was in the background with a hedge-cutter, whirring away. Where had the peace gone?

If the peace was not in my heart, and therefore in my mind, it was not anywhere. Peace that is dependent out outside circumstances is not true peace and can be destroyed in seconds. Then we can feel peace even in the midst of an uproar, in a noisy crowd, in a traffic jam.
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Many techniques for uncovering inner peace have come to us from the great sages of the past. You can study any number of them. And if one of them leads you to the spot of continuous inner joy and freedom from fear, go with it. But do not look to anything or anyone outside yourself to find that fountain of peace that belongs to everyone.

People on a spiritual path want to have a lot of free time to meditate, contemplate, worship, and go within in other ways. Therefore, my spiritual pursuits have determined how I’ve interacted with people in social settings. It’s not that I don’t love a good party, it’s just that superficial interactions are too much on the surface to stir any continuing interest in me. Spiritual people like to dive in deep to the Heart of the Universe.

I can participate in small talk, but eventually desire much more. I want to understand the Soul of the person I am interacting with. If I find that they are a young soul, or perhaps have not examined any of life’s important questions, I will participate with kindness send them on their way with love. But they will never be part of my life. It is tedious for me to be with people on a shallow and superficial level, whether it is in a party atmosphere or a casual encounter.

One of the reasons for this is that on my path, I have not bought into the values that so many people in my society ascribe to. The large, expensive weddings, gaudy extravaganzas and pointless displays, mass entertainments are not pleasurable. The whole medical-industrial complex, the premises it is based on, and attention-seeking social media culture mean very little to me and I avoid them.
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It is an indwelling life of great peace and freedom. But to live it, it is important to set up boundaries and not be dragged into the whirlwind of activity that characterizes so many people’s daily lives. So I have become a hermit. A happy, voluntary, and completely satisfied hermit. And that is how my spiritual pursuits have shaped my life.

Artists are good examples of people who create their own reality.

• Picasso completely re-arranged the geometry of the face and the symmetry of animal bodies. He fractured reality so we could view it differently.
• Van Gogh created a reality of swirling stars and colors, a baby with a green face, sunflowers that look like miniature suns.
• The French Impressionists, in general, created a new world of light and color that made many question their reality.

All artists who do not simply represent the reality we all agree on but dares to present a world of their unique vision, is creating their own reality for others to see.

Material goods lure us into their field of fantasy, offering the good life, pleasure, and a distraction from fear and pain. This is why so many people are addicted to “Retail Therapy.” For the moment, when we buy the boat or the purse, we fulfill our dreams. But, after all, the purse is just leather and the boat just fiber glass and wood. They can be destroyed easily. And once they become ours, they can lose the luster of novelty. Somebody’s boat is bigger. Somebody’s purse is even more fashionable.

So we search for something else. Some other item that will charge our adrenaline and contribute to the image we are creating for ourselves. We strive for it, work so hard, sacrifice—and then find the thing we loved so much cannot love us back. A sparkling pair of Louboutin shoes will not give us affection and they might even hurt our feet. The boat leaks and needs a lot of maintenance. It becomes a problem.
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So we go onto the next thing we think will make us happy. People can spend their whole lives on a rollercoaster like this. Any material item cannot feed the hunger of the soul for meaning and purpose. Materialism is the entertainment of the masses. Malls are teeming with people every weekend, milling around, searching and seeking for the next distraction, thrill, and momentary pleasure. Momentary and fun, but never completely satisfying.