Happiness has always been a hot topic and a source of debate, because it involves our whole selves and the many, often contradictory ways we try to achieve it. After a quarter of a century of hard research, here's what I think about it.
Even so, this kind of happiness comes from having a positive outlook and taking positive actions, with a little help from luck. In short, it is the result of a strong desire and good conditions. But isn't it strange to say that happiness can come in different forms? Is there more than just happiness and sadness? I doubt it. The kind of happiness the wise man talks about can go along with bad luck. It is mostly something done from the inside out, and the only requirement is that the sage be alive and able to think. It is a feeling of serenity, of being at peace with his situation and his conscience, as a well-adjusted and fully committed servant of life, of humanity, and of God, as he sees them.
Even though he knows that his view is imperfect because it is based on his own personal experiences and is therefore subjective, he still lives by it, even if he is willing to reevaluate it when he makes a mistake. His wisdom is always a work in progress. It always has some kind of foolishness in it, which makes it easy to make fun of him. So, he works on developing qualities like humility, kindness, and humour. He makes fun of himself, forgives himself, and tries to get better. He doesn't act like he's happy with himself. Instead, he accepts that he's human and wants to be the most honest and noble person he can be. And this delicate mix of acceptance and struggle alone in any situation, good or bad, is the key to his happiness, which is a dry kind of happiness that fills the mind rather than the heart.
So, this happiness leaves something to be desired: happiness in the fullest sense of the word, which is a state of satisfaction when everything goes our way, both in terms of results and efforts, and is a sweet joy that fills the mind and heart. When the sage feels this kind of happiness, he knows he is lucky and that it could end at any time. Also, he accepts that his life is in danger and that he will have to go through pain and eventually die. In the war of life, only battles can be won, and no matter how hard people try, they will always lose.
Some people will say that happiness in its so-called "fullest" form still leaves something to be desired: the ability to make this happiness infinite, which means it is uncountably big and lasts forever. Some of them will choose the path of faith, which is said to lead to a heavenly afterlife. Others will choose the path of reason, which doesn't let people believe in a rosy afterlife based on wishful thinking and blind trust. This path goes nowhere as far as the beyond is concerned, or rather, it goes somewhere unknown that is probably so different from what is known that we can't even imagine what it's like.
I am one of these "infidels" who believe that the only source of meaning is not a paradisiacal destination, for which there is no good evidence that it exists, but the journey itself, which is rough and uphill and has many twists and turns, some of which are good and some of which are bad. I think that this trip is well worth the trouble. It is true regardless of the above-mentioned destination, which people are free to follow blindly or doubt (and with detachment to boot, in the best case scenario). It's all about the honour of living and loving, as well as the pleasure of doing well in these hard tasks. From this point of view, the purpose of life is to live, in cooperation with other living things, and within certain limits, we can be happy if we try to reach this worthy but humble goal.
At first, the limits on our happiness in this world may bother us, but when we think about it, we realise that life without these limits would be death, so we accept and even welcome them. By definition, life is a state of change that requires a constant tension between wants and getting them. If you make this satisfaction absolute, you get rid of this tension and, as a result, life becomes as dull as a stone. And, as I just said, this nothing, this inactive something, is death. Not a great idea from the point of view of someone who loves life.
