Happiness is real only when shared

As you may have figured out already, It takes me a while to understand certain things. Like for example, Altruism. That you can only be truly happy when you aren't hurting someone else in the process. Chris McCandless, better known as Alexander Supertramp ( a book and movie of his journey titled "into the wild" for more information ) said Happiness is real only when shared. Now I didn't understand that completely when I saw the movie. I mean I understood the meaning, but I had no idea how to cultivate Altruism in me. The buddha says Altruism begins with realizing that your happiness depends on the happiness of others. I truly feel the buddha is the greatest teacher I've ever had. The mark of a good teacher is the ability to decompose the concept into simpler concepts. That his teachings are helping people even 2500 yrs after his death says something about the Buddha that I cannot express in words.

My room mate has been unable to walk for a few days now. Almost every day, and every night, his friends come over and cook for him, chat with him, and eat dinner with him. Its probably what everyone's friends do, but it begs the question, what is it that stops us from being this nice to everyone, and not just our friends? Why do we dislike people? Now I'm not saying I love everyone under the sun. Far from it. However, I am starting to be mindful of my negative feelings. I wonder why I dislike someone. I wonder why anyone dislikes someone.

Story so far part 2

After reading through the aphoristic sayings of the bhagawad geeta and trying to put them in practice, I found that it helped me immensely. My mind was more easily at peace than before. Although, there are some sayings in the bhagawad geeta that caused a great deal of stress in me. I haven't understood it correctly, but that can be attributed to the complexity of the verses and my limited intelligence. I also lacked a teacher, to whom I could put forward my questions, and like any skill or science, a teacher is necessary to achieve mastery. The Geeta taught me a lot. It taught me the ideals. The book defined true happiness to me in such a beautiful way, that I was captivated by it. However, It didn't really elucidate a path by which I could attain Nirvana, at least not one that seemed to be working for me. After a period of great frustration again, the pali canon was sent to me by the universe as an act of providence. (Briefly in between, I read part of the book by Arthur Schopenhauer, The world as will and representation, but I stopped once I got my hands on the canon) The pali canon, translated by Ajaan Geoff ( Thanissaro Bhikku ) into english, contains the principle teachings of The Buddha. I don't know how many people feel the same way, but when I'm stressed out, and I pick up a philosophical book, I either instantly identify with it, or I have no idea what the book is trying to say. When I read the introduction of the canon, I felt my stress dissolving away. So far, I've read about 4 chapters of the canon, and I am happy to say that it has and will continue to be a big influence on my life. The teachings of the Buddha not only clearly light a path towards Nirvana, they are not as terse as the verses in the Geeta and extensive in its explanation. This coupled with the fact that Thanissaro Bhikku's dhamma talks are widely available on the web, suddenly fill me with great hope. I have now both a path that I believe in, and a teacher to shine the light.