Human beings fill their lives with all kinds of things, work and study, travel, sport, marriage and children, jobs, hobbies for their spare time, etc., but if you ask them, ‘Are you happy, do you feel satisfied and fulfilled?’ they answer that for all their activity, possessions and occupations, there is something lacking.

What is it they lack? The zest, the taste that makes you savour life and feel happy and fulfilled, the subtle mysterious and elusive element that turns everything into joy no matter how dull and insignificant!

The element that clothes our world in beauty and splendour
For example, a young man spends his entire time studying, working dutifully, his life has nothing particularly extraordinary or marvellous about it. But let this young man fall in love with a pretty girl, all of a sudden the world changes and everything sings to him, flowers, birds, the sun and stars!

The world is the same but the new element in his life has transformed it into beauty and splendour. If the girl betrays him, if he becomes disillusioned, then once again the world will be drab and no matter how brightly the sun shines for others, to him it will be dark.

Before, when he was in Paradise, no amount of rain, sleet, privation, insult or injury could dampen his spirits, it was all happiness and inspiration, poetry, music and wonderment… because he possessed the element that clothed his world in beauty. The fact that love transforms the world is a well-known phenomenon, but no one bothers to draw conclusions.

The element in addition to love, that brings true and lasting inspiration and fulfilment
If it is true that love transforms life, might we not be able to experience this transforming feeling that makes everything beautiful without being in love with a man or woman? Of course it is possible. If love can alter your outlook and feelings, then perhaps there are other elements capable of doing that also.

Once the human heart and soul has this very subtle and imponderable element, everything takes on another, a universal, dimension. It requires work, prayer and meditation over a long period of time but once you capture it, everything is transformed. Of course, love is one way of obtaining it. If you are in love with a lovely young girl, thanks to the way she inspires you, the element will be there, but it is not in her, nor is it in poetry or music.

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Sèvres, 16th January, 1972

Complete Works Volume 7. The Mysteries of Yesod – Foundations of the Spiritual Life
The Mysteries of Yesod – Foundations of the Spiritual Life