Chapter 4

Cause of Depression – I

… one is almost constantly in an ordinary vital state where the least unpleasant thing very spontaneously and easily brings you depression – depression if you are a weak person, revolt if you are a strong one. Every desire which is not satisfied, every impulse which meets an obstacle, every unpleasant contact with outside things, very easily and very spontaneously creates depression or revolt, for that is the normal state of things – normal in life as it is today. While joy is an exceptional state.

And so, pleasure, pleasure which is simply a pleasing sensation – if it lasts, not only does it lose its edge, but it ends up by becoming unpleasant; one can’t bear it long. So, quite naturally it comes and goes. That is to say, the very thing that gives you pleasure – exactly the same vibration – after a short while, doesn’t give it to you any longer. And if it persists, it becomes unpleasant for you. That is why you can’t have pleasure for a long time.

The only thing which can be lasting is joy, if one enters into contact with the truth of the being which holds this joy permanently.

Be careful, child, do not open the door to depression, discouragement and revolt – this leads far, far away from consciousness and makes you sink into the depths of obscurity where happiness can no longer enter. Your great strength was your smile; because you knew how to smile at life, you also knew how to work with courage and steadiness, and in this you were exceptional. But you have followed the example of other people, you have learned from them to be discontented, rebellious, depressed, and now you have let your smile slip away, and with it your faith and confidence in me; in this condition, if all the divine forces were to concentrate on you, it would be in vain – you would refuse to receive them.

There is only one remedy, and you must lose no time in accepting it: recover your smile, regain your faith, become once more the confident child you were, do not brood over your faults and difficulties – it is your smile that will chase them away.