We all want the experience of peace and fulfillment. Where we get stuck is that we somehow believe we can find it "out there". As if happiness lies in the temporary and transitory things of this world. But our experience of "out there" can only ever reflect back at us how we're truly experiencing ourselves inside. The constant search for happiness in the external is the decision to avoid connection with the authentic self, the only place where fulfillment can truly be found. The more you accrue on the outside the greater the awareness of the emptiness on the inside.
Until you are in clear, authentic and loving relationship with yourself no amount of outer striving will fulfill you. All the strivings and paths of the outer world lead nowhere except back to the suffering of the self until a meaningful path within the self is found.
