Hold on to Happiness

Life is a personal desire that is always meant to be joyful, and better still, a desire to live a happy and successful life. As we strive to satisfy this desire, we encounter obstacles that complicate or frustrate our efforts. This complication or frustration amounts to suffering because it stands in the way of satisfaction.

Wisdom comes from within and is designed to help us cope with suffering and challenges. It is an adaptive product of reasoning in the face of tough circumstances. Thanks to it, happiness is conceivable and achievable despite everything we may be experiencing in life. It is therefore the supreme goodness within our souls that provides us with the faith we need.

From the perspective of any religion, suffering betrays a state of outwardly imperfections that is in contradiction with the human desire for the perfect life of happiness. Consequently, life here below, where humans are doomed to suffer, is an absurd thought. Or rather, life is meaningful strictly in terms of means to a heavenly end in the great beyond: A life of value and virtue prepares the way for an afterlife of bliss. The spiritual believes this in accordance with the teachings of an inspired spiritual leaders of our past, who claim to know the transcendental nature of the hereafter.

While personally I cast a skeptical eye on the religious teachings due to the doctrines, I keep my mind open. They are highly suspicious, but the transcendental nature of their objective points of view puts them beyond the reach of any discredit based on their lack of conclusive evidence.

As I see it, wisdom is independent of any religion, though it can complement the latter. According to it, life has definitive meaning, despite its imperfections that people can learn to accept. Better still, they can learn to value this imperfection and create change as they realize that perfection, contrary to popular belief, is not infinitely desirable. Wisdom is found within and not something we can adopt from a religious belief system. Indeed, perfect happiness leaves something to be desired. By all definitions, it excludes suffering and hence all forms of complication or frustration. It supposes that circumstances are favorable, that is, not tough in any way. Therefore, no effort is necessary while every dream is possible. At first glance, this sounds like the most wonderful situation imaginable, and yet taking another look at it will dispel this illusion.

Happiness is about grasping the opportunities in life with courage, compassio,n and gaining a victory over the obstacles that stand between us and success in all the activities that most matter to us. This victory is glorious in nature and often prosperous and sometimes limited, precarious, and transitory, and we are bound to lose the battle in the end if we are not conscious of our true selves and the power within, but that makes the victory more precious and worthy of savoring once it is achieved.