The Mechanics of Happiness

Hi Peter,

I have opted to read the book from beginning to end, not picking out individual books.

I am blown away at your brilliance and insight; it truly is a read that makes you feel as though you are having an enlightening conversation with the author.

It’s all so logical…and touches on what I have felt to be true for a very long time

Each line offers a gem of understanding.

I have no clue how long it took you to write this book but it is truly remarkable, I am savoring each page, because it speaks to so many, many questions I have had my whole life.

And I seem to be finding answers, how wonderful is that? What a fortunate day that was to meet you.  Or was the Universe recognizing my quest? The Law of Attraction?

Life – as we all know- has many obligations, I am not spending as much time with the book as I would like but each time I pick it up it is a true joy.  It almost feels like I am sneaking a piece of chocolate!

Thank you again,

Rosalie

Rosalie Dombrowski

The reader’s learning process begins with the title of the book The Mechanics of Happiness. As the title indicates, happiness is not something unreachable and undreamed of rather it is a system which requires knowledge to operate it. Thus, the reader gets the message from the very beginning that this book holds the keys to different doors…

The Mechanics of Happiness is one of those rare books that unfold according to the reader’s level of consciousness… Therefore, one could read this book over and over again to pursue their self-development and reflect on how one might put the methods described into practice.

The subject matter of the book – which is the basics of the philosophy of life – has been carefully chosen. These highly sophisticated topics are brought alive by Peter J Levine’s exquisite use of language and examples so well crafted that some otherwise complicated issues are presented in a way that is very easy to comprehend.

Thanks to his friendly and sincere tone, together with the examples he gives from his own life experience, the absent-presence of the writer throughout the book is felt strongly, which makes the reader think that they are not alone, the guide is always with them.

Thanks Peter for this great work.

Gülnur Güven

Inspiring, powerfully uplifting and thought provoking.

The author manages to convey the profound mysteries of life in

a  unique yet simple and down to earth manner with brilliant use

of analogy and practical applications.

I felt I was having an intimate conversation with the author whilst

still being aware of a constant, interwoven, earnest message

for all of humankind. The book inspires hope and I would urge everyone to read it

and “wake up”.
Catherine Permain. RCN

“The Mechanics of Happiness has been a true inspiration to me.

It touched me at a very deep level. You have managed to give us life’s worldly wisdoms in a truly uplifting way. This is a very rare quality.

You have given us a lifetime of experience in your own unique way.

I feel that you know you have a very special message to get out.

I am thrilled that you have managed to achieve this. You have a fine and sensitive understanding of the world we live in, the universe and its mysteries.

I will keep this book close to me always and when my world is dark and dreary I will read a chapter to uplift me into this new dimension where I strive to be.”

Elizabeth Vinton

Oh Peter!

Rather than being “mechanical’, The Mechanics of Happiness is uplifting and Vibrant, Alive with opportunities for awakening!  I saw my inner-child twirling in joy.  It called for me to pick it up last night, and it was such an easy and interesting read, I zipped right through.  For the novice to these concepts, the book is written simply, easy to digest.  And, for those who’ve been traveling the path for many years, this book is full of well woven reminders.  Your blending of stories into the weave is masterful!  You’ve created an outstanding resource, and I am proud and honored to continue to share it with others.

Allie Kent

image: Swamibu

The bee was an emblem of Potnia, the Minoan-Mycenaean “Mistress”, also referred to as “The Pure Mother Bee”. Her priestesses received the name of “Melissa” (“bee”). In addition, priestesses worshipping Artemis and Demeter were called “Bees”. The Delphic priestess is often referred to as a bee, and Pindar notes that she remained “the Delphic bee” long after Apollo had usurped the ancient oracle and shrine. “The Delphic priestess in historical times chewed a laurel leaf,” Harrison noted, “but when she was a Bee surely she must have sought her inspiration in the honeycomb.” Ernst Neustadt, in his monograph on Zeus Kretigenes, “Cretan-born Zeus,” devoted a chapter to the honey-goddess Melissa.

The Homeric Hymn to Apollo acknowledges that Apollo’s gift of prophecy first came to him from three bee maidens, usually identified with the Thriae. The Thriae was a trinity of pre-Hellenic Aegean bee goddesses.
The Kalahari Desert’s San people tell of a bee that carried a mantis across a river. The exhausted bee left the mantis on a floating flower but planted a seed in the mantis’s body before it died. The seed grew to become the first human.
In Egyptian mythology, bees grew from the tears of the sun god Ra when they landed on the desert sand. The bowstring on Hindu love god Kamadeva’s bow is made of honeybees.
Orators, powerful speakers and those who can enrapture their audience through their linguistic ability are said to have lips that have been anointed with honey.

From the earliest times of our agrarian history the relationship between farmers and bees that pollinate and confirm their crops has been one of reciprocal maintenance. The bee is the agent of pollination, the catalyst that brings about change and facilitates fertilization, allowing the crop to mature, develop and reproduce. It is easy to see why their function is considered so important and why the bee is ascribed a mystical place within the human experience.

Lately there has been an alarming and so far inexplicable decline in bee colony numbers. This year alone over one third of bee colonies in the US have simply disappeared; a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder or ‘Mary Celeste Syndrome’. Various theories from parasites to pesticides have been speculated but the reality is that no-one actually knows why this is happening. The potential consequences are vast. This is not limited to the US, it is a worldwide happening and indicative of a shift or change occurring within the planet’s own equilibrium.

Take the traditional perception of the bee as an intermediary, a messenger from those peripheral realms of human awareness where perceptions sneak in ‘under the wire’. The bee carries a signal or a frequency that enables transformation, it enables the sterile to become fertile and initiates the process of regeneration. The bee, in this context, represents an interlocutor between our immediate mundane awareness and the ‘deep space’ of human cognizance. Whatever the potential ramifications of this development, one thing is certain, huge transition is happening. Look to the flora and fauna worlds, all nature, as the messenger of what is to come.

Whatever anyone’s feelings about it, we live in interesting times. We are those people at that time that will experience remarkable transition. Good, bad or indifferent is not a criteria; we will see things in our lifetimes such as the rapid disintegration of the bee population, that have a significant bearing upon the way that our lives are lived. Ultimately the end of bees on this planet would, de facto, represent the extinction of the human race.

In his book The Creation, the world’s most celebrated biologist, E O Wilson, has spelt out what would happen if the vortex swallowed insects. “People need insects,” he says, “but insects do not need us. If all humankind were to disappear tomorrow, it is unlikely that a single insect species would go extinct, except three forms of human body and head lice… In two or three centuries, with humans gone, the ecosystems of the world would regenerate back to the rich state of near-equilibrium that existed ten thousand or so years ago… But if insects were to vanish, the terrestrial environment would soon collapse into chaos.”
Flowering plants would go first, then herbaceous plants, then insect-pollinated shrubs and trees, then birds and animals and, finally, the soil. Wilson corrects the generally held misapprehension that the principal “turners and renewers” of the soil are worms. That distinction more properly belongs to insects and their larvae. Without them, bacteria and fungi would feast on the decaying plant and animal remains, while — for as long as it was able to support them — the land would be recolonised by a small number of fern and conifer species. The human diet would be wind-pollinated grasses and whatever remained to be harvested from a fished-out sea. It would not be enough. Widespread starvation would shrink the population to a fraction of its former size.
“The wars for control of the dwindling resources, the suffering, and the tumultuous decline to dark-age barbarism would be unprecedented in human history.” Wilson concedes that we might survive quite happily without body lice and malarial mosquitoes. Otherwise, he says: “Do not give thought to diminishing the insect world. It would be a serious mistake to let even one species of the millions on Earth go extinct.”

The relationship between ourselves and the planet our home is fragile, delicate and the most potent expression of what we may become either as architects of our own demise or as the agents of a transcendent future.

image: wolfpix

We met as fellow professionals and it illustrated perfectly what we each represent for each other. An accomplished individual is one who has tackled problems that others may not even be aware of yet and come to resolution about those issues. The experienced traveller knows the lay of the land ahead and may warn their companions of the hazards and wonders that lie beyond.

What becomes clearer to me with each passing day is that yesterday’s thinking does not have tomorrow’s answers. It may inform the process of arriving at the right place, but it has no inclination of what the territory is like. Why is this? Because it changes dramatically, just as the arctic tundra is vastly different to an equatorial rain forest or an arid savannah so yesterday is different to today or tomorrow.

We see this in our cultural mores, what is acceptable today may not have been a generation ago. Yesterday’s enemies are today’s friends and yesterday’s wisdom is today’s object of ridicule. The landscape we occupy alters and shifts and we are have to remain fluid within that.

Different people look at the same challenge and come up with vastly different solutions. There are no right or wrong answers in this life, just different ones.

What, you may ask, is my prescription for a happy, fulfilled and virtuous life? Take the best of today, the best of yesterday and weave it around an unchanging core that is composed of Nature’s laws. Allow these three strands to combine and create the DNA of your informed being. In this way, you will always be in the right place.

image: essjaynz

There is something calming and settling about being in the garden and working to assert your intentions upon it and the way it is. One of the balms in my life is cutting the lawns and trimming the hedges in my own garden. I love to work on the shapes, the curves and the angles of the hedges and derive immense pleasure when I am finished from stepping back and seeing the result of my labours.

There is satisfaction and fulfilment to be had in the most simple of things. I love to keep the tools sharp and clean and love to sweep up after the cutting and trimming is done. I derive great pleasure from tidiness and precision, certain parts of the garden I leave to grow wild and build small sanctuaries from piles of logs for insects and spiders, other parts I manage more closely. Now we are in the growing season these small actions again become a component of my world. The leaves are in bud, the birds are nesting and the regenerative wave of spring invigorates everything it touches.

Consider the following:

What kind of plants do you like to grow? They reflect your nature, they feed back to your own inner process and you will grow those things that resonate or harmonise with you at a deeper level. Me? I love to grow orchids indoors and passion flowers outdoors, I love vines that grow all over the brickwork and outbuildings.
What kind of shapes do you like in the garden? Regimented lines, flowing curves, tightly clipped or left to their own devices? Personally I like a combination but I love things that meander and paths that sweep through well tended beds and turn to reveal ponds or statuary.

This can be extended and is a rewarding study. Add into the mix colours, scale, water features, trees, bushes, heights, mixes, flowers or foliage, evergreens or deciduous plants, broad or narrow leaved plants. Then there is the territory of medicinal plants, cookery, herbalism and a whole branch of arts and sciences that derive from our interactions with the fauna worlds. Whenever you are feeling less than at your best get into your garden to contemplate and be transported to another place. If your own garden isn’t right yet, it’s been neglected perhaps or you live in a place without its own garden then take yourself to a public garden, a botanic garden, an arboretum, don’t deprive yourself of these simple pleasures, they are food for the soul.
Look at your garden and the things you cultivate with fresh eyes, whether it is a vast estate or a window box, and see what it has to offer back to you.

image: taz etc.