By developing spiritually he didn’t mean that all we had to do was join a church, temple, or synagogue and become a member in good standing. However, there is nothing wrong with doing that especially if it leads to service. For Schweitzer also understood the law and the benefit of service when he said, "I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve."

There is no doubt that service is an important element in attaining worldly happiness. But if we stop there, we miss the opportunity to cultivate and nurture our spiritual side and to feel, in a personal way, the pure unconditional Love of our Creator that alone will completely satisfy our soul. It is a Love that the world does not have the power to give us. For worldly love always has a condition connected to it.

We are a three-part being-body, mind, and spirit- and to develop spiritually requires that we contact and realize our spiritual part. Where is that spiritual part? Where can it be contacted? All the great spiritual masters who have come to enlighten us have said the same thing. It is not outside of us, it lies within. It is easily felt when we can still the lake of our mind and go beyond the wall of our restless thoughts. It is as close as our own consciousness. And it is there for everyone no matter what age, color, race, gender or social status. God plays no favorites. It matters not what "rules" we may have broken or what foolish "mistakes" we may have committed. The Great Swami Sri Yukteswar counseled, "Forget the past, the vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until man is
anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now." God never hides from us. We are the ones who hide from God.

The great tragedy that we have made down through the ages, which has lead to such chaos and pain in this world, including war, is that we think that in acquiring the material things of this world we will attain the happiness that we are all seeking. I saw a sad bumper sticker that read, "The one with the most toys at the end wins." The sad part is that so many people believe it. It is an illusion.

We all want happiness. It is a natural urge of human beings. The great country song of a few years back was so right. We’re all "Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places."

The truth, that we find so hard to accept, is that the power of fulfillment is not contained in material things. The thing, in its self, does not hold the power to satisfy us. It only appears to do so. If the "thing" contained that power then that "thing" would fulfill everyone.

We would all want the same clothes, the same food, the same car, the same husband or wife. And wouldn’t that be a mess? We grant the object of our senses, whatever it might be, the power to fulfill us by our attitude towards that particular thing.

If the material object contained the power to fulfill, then that object would fulfill us forever. We all know that we have had a great desire for something and, when we finally get it, we discover that the anticipation of it was more exciting than the receiving of it. That is because the power to fulfill is not inherent in the thing. We have all also had the experience of having worked hard for something and it isn’t
long after we get it that our interest in it begins to wane. And before long that thing, that we thought was so necessary for our happiness, is hidden away in our closet or tucked away in some remote area of the garage and we try to figure out who we can give it to. This is why yardsales have become so popular. Trying to find lasting happiness in the passing things of this world reminds me of a dog chasing its tail.

But if we understand that true happiness is a state of consciousness that is not attained through the acquisition of material stuff, but is acquired when we can contact and realize the spiritual part of our self, then our relationship with the outside world changes dramatically. Our food tastes better, our car runs better, our friends are friendlier and we begin to see the world in a different light. It’s not that our food, car, or friends have necessarily changed, but our attitude towards them has. And we realize that the things that we have acquired in this life are really gifts for us to use in order to play our part in a more meaningful way.

It is like an actor, playing a part on stage, who has been given all kinds of props to satisfy her role. If she is a trained actor, she uses them to play her part to perfection, knowing that they are not really hers, and when the play is over, she will return them to the prop master. So it is with each of us on this great stage of life. When the final curtain falls, all of the things that we have spent so much time and effort attaining, will all be given back to the "Great Prop Master" in the sky.