Meditation 3: Is Happiness Overrated?

It seems to be a given that people want to be happy.  But is it?  If that were the case, why do people hurt themselves?  Why do they make war against one another and bring unspeakable terror on each other's heads?  Why do they commit murder, suicide or find slower ways to kill themselves?  Isn't it because they all want to be happy?

This might seem paradoxical at first.  However, a little reflection reveals that for most people happiness is matter of moments, and most always in the past.  It is sometimes hard to realize that you are living through the good times, the happy times, until they are over.  Only after the golden age has passed is it recognized as having been made of gold, somewhat as in the old lament that youth is wasted on the young.

Maybe happiness is overrated.  Maybe if people forgot about happiness with a capital AH@, they would be much happier.  Comparing reality to happiness that is out of reach can lead to depression and sometimes even suicide.  Despair follows the realization that a certain conception of happiness is unattainable in this world.  At this point philosophy ends and religion begins.  The alternative is to live without longing for the unattainable.