Not Allowed To Be Happy?

I am not allowed to be happy

until I have ended every environmental catastrophe.

I am not allowed to be happy

until I have abolished war and global injustice.

I am not allowed to be happy

until I have eradicated world hunger, poverty & AIDS.

I am not allowed to be happy

until I spend a year on the Perfection Diet

cleansing every toxin from my body.

I am not allowed to be happy

until I remove all the old fillings from my teeth

so I am no longer haunted by the suspicion

that some trace mineral is making me miserable.

I am not allowed to be happy

until I am free of pain.

I am not allowed to be happy

until I am perfectly pure and kind

without a moment's anger.

I am not allowed to be happy

until I am Good, and behold, Very Good.

I am not allowed, not allowed, not allowed... but tell me:

Who is the Allower?

.  .  .  .  .  .  .

Happiness has no cause.

Happiness need not be deserved or justified.

Happiness is not a reward for good behavior.

Happiness has nothing to do with solving world problems.

Happiness IS, before the world was.

Happiness not of my creation,

for I am the creation of Happiness.

Happiness not "mine" or "yours."

Happiness suffering no postponement by fools.

Happiness the wave I catch or I don't:

it's up to me.

Happiness the radiance in my heart's core

before any thought of "I."

Happiness watching worlds sparkle and fade

in a limitless ocean of consciousness

without a single problem anywhere.

Happiness containing suns, galaxies,

the dissolution and re-creation of planets.

Happiness that does not end when the body ends,

or when the earth ends, or when the cosmos ends.

Happiness that never sleeps, but watches sleep,

as a mother watches her infant.

Happiness the wild innocence overflowing

from the luminosity of pure Awareness.

Happiness the elemental sea-surge that bears me,

washes me, dissolves me, welcomes me home.

Happiness the boundless AM before I.

Happiness I choose but do not earn.

Happiness the final truth:

If I am not Happy,

If I am not Happiness itself,

I will never

bring Happiness

to anyone.