What is here already cannot be achieved

[Excerpt from Unachievable]

We all want to feel happy, peaceful, whole and secure. This book is saying those are Unachievable. Hang on. Don’t throw the book away. Unachievable does not mean the things we are looking for can never be experienced. In fact, it means the opposite. It means happiness, peace, wholeness and security are here already. They are what we are. Because they are what we are, because they are here already, constant and never-changing, they cannot be achieved.

The attempt to achieve them, from an unquestioned belief that they can be achieved - in other words, that they are not here now - is the only problem. The search creates more and more imaginary separation from what is here already, right now.

The attempt to find happiness, peace, wholeness and security is the attempt to fix in place a version of ourself that the mind believes we are. We can consider this as the attempt to secure a version of ourself that is somehow separate and distinct from happiness, peace, wholeness and security. Throughout this book we refer to this as the Separate Self or Identity.

The motivation to secure the separate Identity is enormous. The unquestioning mind believes that we are indeed separate and because, in that illusory separation, there is a feeling of vulnerability and instability security must be sought. Securing ourself is a survival motivation. It looks as though if I can only put enough effort in, hide myself away enough or control what others think of me then I will be safe.

We’re here to see how - through the realisation of Unachievable - that the frantic search comes to a natural end, revealing what was there all along.

What is here already cannot be achieved.