The pursuit of happiness, which is our society’s great obsession, often leads to the opposite result: disappointment. We judge everything by whether it makes us happy, our relationships, jobs, homes, bodies, and diets. If something fails to bring us happiness, we think we are doing something wrong. Modern life positions happiness as the greatest good, and unhappiness as the greatest evil to be avoided at all costs. But in reality, the relentless pursuit of happiness increases the likelihood of dissatisfaction, and even phenomena such as depression, loneliness, stress, and anxiety.
What, then, is the solution? If we truly wish to find happiness, we need to first understand what happiness is. From there, we can proceed toward it.
Many ask, “Happiness comes and goes, it slips through our fingers. How can we define it in a way that is real and lasting, not just an illusion?” The answer is that happiness must be real, not something each person invents for themselves and constantly redefines. It cannot be an ever-changing goal, shifting with one’s moods and desires.
So should we always be in a search for happiness? We do not need to search for it. Instead, we need to define it. Happiness exists in only one form, in understanding the meaning of life. It is not something we fabricate based on our temporary conditions, but it is both beyond us and in the present.
If we know how to discover the meaning of life, it will propel us forward on a path of ever-increasing awareness, understanding, and fulfillment. Even if we face difficulties, we will still experience happiness because we hold a grasp on life’s meaning. If we feel unhappy on the way, it means we have insufficiently developed ourselves to fully comprehend life’s meaning. The process of attaining the meaning of life is the journey.
Understanding this will make us happy. Even the aspiration toward the attainment of the meaning of life brings happiness. In other words, the very realization that life has meaning beyond us, outside of our subjective experience, creates a sense of fulfillment.
There is life, and within it, there is happiness that we can find in understanding the meaning of existence. Even if we do not yet grasp it completely, simply moving toward it already fills us with joy. We begin to absorb it, anticipating its full revelation.
Then, the happiness we feel on the way to the attainment of life’s meaning is the happiness of feeling universal harmony. By aligning ourselves with such harmony, we become harmonious ourselves. You can think of it like entering a black hole, only to discover that within it, you discover absolutely everything.
Based on KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on June 10, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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