Just when things seem like they are at their bleakest is often when they will start to turn around. The reason for this is that when we are fed up with the way things are going, that is the only time that we are willing to turn to spiritual pursuits, because the worldly approach hasn’t worked for us. Feelings of despair and hopelessness can therefore be seen as positive emotions because they divert us from the material path onto the the path to enlightenment.
In other words, when we are at our lowest point, we can see that the cause of our unhappiness is not that we are not getting what we want but rather the insatiable nature of our wanting. Grasping impairs us in various ways. For example, when we are grasping we are looking in the wrong place for happiness. We will never be satisfied when we are obsessed with craving because it just leads to more of the same. Secondly, the act of grasping is often counter-productive. A patient and measured approach is usually more fruitful in terms of achieving our objectives.
The spiritual approach advocated by the Buddha is entirely different. It starts with the premise that we already have everything that we need to be happy. The problem is that we are not observing that reality. Once we start to observe we can see that the progression of each individual moment after the other is already sufficient.
But, we are not accustomed to observing what his happening now. We are accustomed to grasping into the past or into the future to change things so that they align with what we think we want. The Buddha’s method is designed to correct that habit so that the mind spends more of its time in the present. Repeating this method over and over is the right path to resolve our problems. Once we become comfortable with our real underlying objective, we will start to experience happiness and satisfaction more often and the feelings of despair will dissipate.