Bernadette Roberts addresses the question of states of bliss and oneness in her book "The Experience of No Self." Her belief is the higher state of bliss comes and goes, but once bliss is attained, one gets used to it and it is no longer experience as a "high" . . . and becomes the norm.
I tend to disagree with Bernadette Roberts. How can bliss come and go, yet become the norm? Would it be the same as attaining our ultimate goal and deem ourselves so successful that we can't achieve more success?
Of course, something that is attained for any period of time can become the norm, positive or negative, bliss or emotional pain. But how does one know it is the "ultimate" and the emotional condition can go no higher? My belief is that ultimate bliss is never achieved . . . it can always go higher yet bringing us the sensation of personal satisfaction.
There are the states of bliss and individual opinions of what bliss actually is.
A quote by John Keats states a soft kiss is bliss . . . "Now a soft kiss - Aye, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss."
I guess one could interpret a soft kiss as endless bliss, depending on the individuals and their place in a relationship, yet for another it is just a state of being.
For J.K. Rowling, it is "The idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss." It is not the interaction with another person, but the state of being with one's self.
Ask 10 people what does bliss mean to them and you will no doubt get ten interpretations, just as if you asked 10 people what is happiness or any other emotion or state of being.
It is just one of those states of being that you know if you have experienced it and if you haven't, you long for it. If you are in the state of bliss, you want to stay there forever.
For me, true love is bliss.
What does "bliss" mean to you?
