The core investment

Life is a rollercoaster. Being tossed around is inevitable, but safety bars exist that can make the ride feel less turbulent. One needs something stable upon which to base one's happiness. If one invests only in worldly circumstances, one's happiness will change with that fast tide of success and failure. If one has a sense (i.e., feeling or state of mind) of something non-worldly, which is more permanent or stable than worldly circumstances (e.g., nirvana, Brahma, God, soul), giving that feeling more mental and emotional investment than worldly events will produce a more stable happiness. One needs a core investment in something stable, and one must guard and maintain it. The investment is emotional and mental, but also financial, environmental, political, social, etc. only after that investment is established can one branch out to other investments (work, school, relationship, charity). It sounds selfish, but even the Buddha said it about becoming aware of selflessness. "Clear thinking, right action, discipline, and restraint make an island for the wise man, an island safe from floods ... he makes his mind firm, like a fortress. He attacks Mara with the weapon of wisdom, and he guards what he conquers jealously." (Dhammapada) Only one who has invested in understanding selflessness can see the apparent self and other clearly enough to act virtuously and skillfully. Most Americans seem to think of independence in selfish terms: be my own man, have my own things, get what I want when I want it.... I think of independence as the ability to give myself and others as much space as they might want/need to be and become whatever they want to be. If you love someone, set them free.