Happiness

Everybody wants happiness, but few realize that it is a very relative concept. If happiness refers to a feeling, then happiness certainly does not last long, for human feelings and emotions are capricious. It comes and goes away. If happiness is a mental state in which a person achieves intellectual and emotional equilibrium, then it depends on the person's capability to maintain such a state in order for happiness to become constant and sustainable. In that sense, the state of happiness is also subject to change.

Some may define happiness as a state of well-being, physically, mentally and socially, which could be measured subjectively by individual persons,in terms of the quality of life, or personal and external/environmental factors that affect their life quality. In that sense, the spectrum of happiness varies on a wide range, depending on individual perception. It is true that one's wealth certainly does not guarantee one's happiness. However, living in unsafe environments such as war zones, or in poverty and unable to meet one's own basic needs only leads to unhappiness and sufferings.

Humans in the rat race are suffering from a lot of stress and worries. The rich and the poor alike all have their own problems, some of which they may get over, others they have to face in utmost distress. Besides getting caught up in the mundane turmoil, we also suffer from our own body with its demands and weaknesses, its unstable conditions from childhood to old age. We sometimes get confused while dealing with many issues and relationships in life, so confused that we may get tired of them all, and would like to find a way to escape, and get liberated from them.

Is liberation from daily life fetters happiness? Then those who denounce mundane life, such as monks and nuns, should be the happiest on earth. If you closely observe those who devote their lives to some spiritual or religious pursuit or ideals, and who are living and working in various religious sects or organizations, you may find the majority of them much happier than those in the secular world. The majority of them, but not all of them. Why? I believe happiness is a matter of the individual that demands the individual to look inward and discover it. After all, happiness is from within, not without.