October 2001

THE KEY TO HAPPINESS

Do not strive for happiness. You can only arrive at happiness while striving for other things. Happiness is not a fixed state of being; it is a state of perpetual becoming. Happiness cannot be designed. When happiness arrives you are no longer conscious of striving for it.

What should you strive for? The meaning in life, for the fulfilment that goes beyond your individual egoistic self. You are as great as the causes you aspire to. Great causes elevate you and make you transcend your small self. Great causes pervade you with reverence and infuse you with dignity, which are necessary components of a worthy life. Stretch yourself to the maximum in the service of others, in the cause of altruism. Merge with the larger scheme of things by understanding that the human destiny is made of the stars and not only of ordinary clay. And then your life will be enhanced, your being enlarged. And perhaps as a by product you will arrive at happiness.

What is happiness? The equilibrium of your being which is recognised by others as a state of serenity that is inspiring and uplifting; which is felt by you as a state of inner tranquillity that gives you strength and determination; not a state of sensual satisfaction or a state of physical comfort but a state of inner radiance which you will recognise more and more as you approach it closer and closer. Happiness is being at peace with yourself while the self is united with a larger order of things.

The truly blessed people, the giants of human thought and spirit, the Gandhis and the Schweitzers did not search for happiness, yet we find their lives radiant and inspiring — full to the brim in the service of great causes, in the service of others, in the service of large ideals which alone make sense of human destinies.

The concept of happiness should be abandoned for it is a trap usually concealing an ego trip. The key to happiness is to lose your ego and ambition, and to acquire a vision and a mission.

Henryk Skolimowski