Aristotle said that "happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence." How he deduced this is a rather fascinating study, but that will have to be left for another time.
Still, it remains true that we humans seek happiness, but far too few of us seek TRUE happiness. We are regularly sidetracked with false notions of things that will make us happy. In fact you might say that the whole story of mankind is the record of the wrong roads we've taken seeking happiness and the unhappiness that ensued.
But still we try. And still we fall prey to the siren song of false philosophies. In America, we seek happiness in things, material prosperity, money. As a financial advisor, I guess I ought to be glad about such a state of affairs since it ensures me a job! However, I am not glad, but saddened by it. I am saddened by it each time I counsel a person who sought success through materials only to find that he lost his marriage or children or health in the process.
Perhaps there is hope on the horizon. Recently, the New York Times, under the rather provocative title, But Will It Make You Happy, profiled a young couple that began "downsizing" and eschewing personal belongings so they could get off the "work-spend treadmill." Good for them!
My only caution to them would be this:
The cure for materialism is NOT anti-materialism, but spirituality.
Yes, it is a good start and perfectly fine to deny yourself and renounce material goods so they lose that special appeal to false happiness. It's called detachment and it is a virtue. But happiness is no more guaranteed to the person who has nothing than it is to the person who has everything. This is because happiness does not reside in having but in being.
Detachment encourages the proper order of importance between creature (created things) and Creator. And once our compass is set for that End, then we are well on our way toward true happiness.
