My answer is an unqualified yes for all of you who are not impoverished or terminally ill. Through the years you have perused the books that have guided you in terms of personal growth and development. Hopefully you have grown, matured and have attained a measure of happiness.
Follow me on the Highway to Happiness and you will achieve that aspired-to state of grace that has evaded you all these years. Mind you - it isn't easy but, I assure you that, the clearly defined formula presented will guide you unerringly towards that state of grace - ongoing happiness.
This portion of my paper is presented for your enjoyment.
If you wish to have the balance of the pages, which provide you with a
clear-cut formula for the attainment of happiness, please forward your
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THE HIGHWAY TO HAPPINESS
As formulated by Melvin Hassan
I occasionally talk with people on the subject of happiness. I have no compunction discussing this subject - I am a happy person.
Since happiness is a state of grace not always attained by people, during their lifetime, one would think that it would be a subject of great interest; it is not.
Having attained personal happiness, in life, I deem it my privilege to impart to others the understanding required to attain the aspired-to state of grace; this I do, whenever the opportunity presents itself. In some instances I have even initiated talks on the subject with interesting results.
In one instance I put a notice on the bulletin board, at work, suggesting colleagues bring their lunch to our boardroom to discuss "Enjoyment in the workplace and happiness in life are attainable" - only one young lady showed up. I thanked her for coming to share her own life experience of happiness with us; we both agreed that the turnout indicated that an overall feeling of enjoyment and happiness prevailed in our company and that we should be gratified and content with that knowledge. The young lady, who showed up, had always impressed me as being one of the exceptional "happy" persons, in our midst.
On several occasions, after giving a presentation on "Happiness", I have been stopped by persons who will tell me how much they enjoyed my "talk" and then will pose the incredulous query: "But, you really can’t be happy all the time"?! I will, usually, respond: "Think, a moment, are you not personally acquainted with one person, whether family, friend or colleague, who is always miserable". The most frequent response I get, with a big smile, is: Yees, but not alwayyys".
It is possible, of course, that I am one of those exceptional progressive reincarnates who is particularly attuned to the joy of existence. I have always been, consistently, a happy person. If you’ll be patient, I shall, I promise, elaborate and, hopefully, instruct you on how you too can achieve the aspired-to state of grace.
Happiness, I would have you know, is not necessarily evident in the demeanor or facial expressions of a person. Looking at myself in the mirror, I can readily accept that I do not epitomize the classical happy person. When, however, I look into my heart - I know happiness. When one is happy - others, around one, enjoy the resulting benefits.
A wise man once said that there is nothing of greater value in the life of man than love and happiness. He went on to say that we should not let the masks or postures deceive us; love and happiness is the glue that holds the universe together.
I could, now, go on quoting, at length, what the sages, through the ages, have said about happiness. However, it has also been said that experience is a book in which we all write and nobody reads.
It is true that the sages of all cultures have very clearly and repeatedly promulgated the principles that are the foundation of happiness; very few are those who have listened, heard, absorbed, digested and articulated the revelation. It is also true that there are, in fact, a lot of happy people in the world. This, I know, does not come as a surprise to some; to others it will, I’m sure, be a comforting thought.
Wise men, through the millennium, have sought to understand the meaning of life. This, undoubtedly, has been a worthy and gratifying quest; an equitable and acceptable answer to the meaning of life is still in the making.
In the interim, of great interest to each of us, as individuals, should be the answer to a simpler question: "What should be my purpose in life"? The answer to this has been articulated well by the sages of all cultures; it has been little heeded by the sophisticates of all eras.
The sages of all cultures, through the millenniums, have clarified that the purpose of each of us, as individuals, in life is to emanate happiness, create happiness and enjoy happiness.
If all of us could conduct our lives, our short spans on earth, in pursuit of the spiritual growth required to achieve a state of true grace, enabling us to emanate happiness, create happiness and enjoy happiness - Oh what a joyous life we would lead; what a fine world this would be.
How then does someone, who does not suffer the extremities of an impoverished existence or a terminal illness, attain a state of happiness; terminal illness and poverty are, obviously, impediments to happiness.
Come with me back to Genesis and the wonderful allegorical experience in the Garden of Eden; the Garden of Eden is a synonym for paradise and heaven. The Creator actually gave Adam and Eve the planet Earth, which he described as "GanEden" (Hebrew – delightful garden) as their domain and it was apparent that they had it all - paradise found. But, as we know, they looked around and asked, "Is this all there is?"
Since you’re all familiar with the story, you know that, they ate from the tree of knowledge ignoring the Lord’s admonition that, should they eat from it, they would surely die. But the Creator forgave them their human frailty and did not slay them. He did, however, tell the man that he would be driven from Eden and compelled to work for a living; and Eve was condemned to undergo the pain of childbirth.
For those of you, who did not fully
comprehend the significance of that historical event, I will clarify that
he also told them that since they had eaten from the tree of knowledge
they were, henceforth, endowed with a mind of their own, enabling them
to create their own heaven or hell. The amazing thing we find is that,
notwithstanding the option available, most people tend to create their
own hell.
How, you ask, does one create one’s
own heaven rather than one’s own hell? Here, you have truly posed a good
question.
But, once again, I must have you bear with me, and revisit with me one of the recent, most distressing incidents of contemporary unhappiness - the O.J. Simpson tragedy.
I refer to this as a tragedy because this case is not only a horrific experience affecting the O.J. Simpson family; it is not only the tragedy of the victims’ families - it is potentially an American national tragedy for it severely undermines the intrinsic value of the "American Dream".
A young black man, who emerged from the blight of the American City unto unparalleled success in sports, movies and social spheres, was an instance of the American dream successfully attained.
It should be apparent that a socially prominent, publicly adored star of stage and sports, married to a great beauty and the father of two adorable children, who may have murdered the mother of his children and an innocent young admirer, would have harbored an enormous volume of self hate and unhappiness.
And so you may well ask, along with so many others, on observing this ongoing modern tragedy - if the achievement of the American dream, so beautifully exemplified by O.J. Simpson, does not provide happiness - what does.
The answer, my friends, is not blowing in the wind - the answer is truly within your power to comprehend. Happiness is achievable and, when attained, is the basis for a truly gratifying existence.
The historian Will Durant described how he looked for happiness in knowledge and found only disillusionment. He then sought happiness in travel and found weariness; in wealth and found discord and worry. He looked for happiness in his writing and was only fatigued. He then went on to describe the following scene:
"One day I saw a woman waiting in a tiny car with a sleeping child in her arms. A man descended from a train and came over and gently kissed the woman and then the baby, very softly so as not to waken him. The family drove off and left me with a stunning realization of the real nature of happiness - every normal function of life holds some delight".
I'm afraid that Durant did not have a true understanding of what happiness is. Roy M. Goodman was astute in his observation: "Remember that happiness is a way of travel - not a destination".
It was Lillian Eichler Watson, paraphrasing William Lyons Phelps, who described happiness as "Not dependent on external things; the pond is fed from within. The kind of happiness that stays with you is the happiness that springs from inward thoughts and emotions. You must cultivate your mind if you wish to achieve enduring happiness. You must furnish your mind with interesting thoughts and ideas; for an empty mind seeks pleasure as a substitute for happiness".
I will observe here that not only "an empty mind seeks pleasure as a substitute for happiness"; most minds interpret life’s periodical passing pleasures as happiness. The pleasurable interludes in the drab unhappy existence are referred to as happiness.
In the happy person’s existence – life is happiness; the exceptional joyful experiences are just icing on the cake of life..
I like Robert Ingersoll’s creed:
Happiness is the only good.
The place to be happy is here.
The time to be happy is now.
The way to be happy is to make others so.
Robert’s creed is admirable; I’m
with him. However, Robert’s formula for happiness assumes that we are happy
beings; he does not clarify how we become the happy persons intent on making
others happy. For ‘tis true that a truly happy person will refrain from
any action that would tend to undermine another person’s state of well
being; more on this later.
Every day you will hear people
say:
When I get to be sixteen - I’ll be happy.
When I’m eighteen - I’ll surely be happy.
When I get my car - Oh then I’ll be happy.
As soon as we have a home of our own ........
When I get that position .........
And one day, as we ponder that long unending trail toward happiness, we realize just how elusive that state of grace is; that it may just pass us by - and we wonder why.
OK, OK, you say - pray, please tell me what’s it all about.
The time has come for you and me
to really get down to the nitty-gritty - to the true ingredients of happiness.
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