Like a bee attracted to a flower, we all naturally gravitate toward happiness and do whatever we can to make it last as long as possible. Consciously and unconsciously, we also shun that which we perceive to cause unhappiness. This is because our fundamental nature is one of happiness.
Our success in finding happiness depends on where we look for it. If we believe that happiness can be acquired from the outside world, we seek it there and sooner or later discover that people, situations, or material things do not provide lasting happiness. While they may bring happiness for a season, once the novelty wears off, we’re soon drawn again outside to find happiness elsewhere. It is amazing how many times we can repeat this seeking-outward without it dawning on us that we may be looking in the wrong place!
Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard uses the example of the chocolate cake. The first piece of cake may be delightful, but after the second, its sensual pleasure is diminished, and with third slice, one might even feel disgust! This truism is expressed in the popular German idiom:
Wenn es am besten schmeckt, soll man aufhören ~ When it tastes best, one should stop eating.
More is not better and one can definitely have too much of a good thing.
This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t enjoy everything life has to offer us. Not at all. However, our enjoyment will be further enhanced by the knowledge that we humans share a common consciousness such that we can participate in the joy of others as well as our own. This common consciousness, the One Without A Second, is the seat of Pure and Enduring Happiness.
One of my favorite comedians, Jim Carrey, explains it well:
Remaining cognizant of our shared consciousness in the midst of Life’s vicissitudes is hard work, but work that’s worth the supreme happiness and balance it brings.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
To be sure, happiness is not found in others, although we can share joy with and among others. Happiness emanates from the self, the self that feels contented with what one has and who one is.
A state of depression can also be the true self, when one feels unhappy about one’s existence. Depression isolates us, and sometimes it is difficult to let go of our suffering, as this too is a very real ontological state.
So, then, the task before us is not to dwell in unhappiness, but rather to search for eudaimonia, a deep and enduring happiness.
The body knows that feelings of sadness and anger wreak havoc on our well-being, whereas even a small thread of happiness has the potential to bring healing to the wounded soul.
Happiness can be grasped in moments, which can seem fleeting. And yet, there is a deeper happiness, a place of contentment, compassion, forgiveness, and love.