Someone once asked, what is the ultimate goal of man?
I answered with a mixture of embarrassment and uncertainty, "to be happy..."
all of my classmates laughed, except my professor, which smiled at me and said "correct"...
Ever since that day up to this day, I always remembered that our real goal in life is actually to be happy. But that leaves more questions than answers, such as, What makes us happy? When will we be happy? Why should we be happy? Where can we find Happiness? etc... I have always thought of those questions and for a brief period of my life time, I could attain a certain level of happiness, sometimes, physical, material, emotional even spiritual. But these happiness came at a price, a price than can sometimes be similar to one of Isaac Newton's law of Motion: "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction".
I really don't know if this applies to other people, and I don't ask anyway but the point is, every time something happens to me, there's always a catch. Say, for one whole week, I felt like hell at work, then by next week I would receive news that a friend of mine just forgave me from a mistake that I unintentionally did, something like that...
I dont know if there is a connection or if its just how life goes, but my theory is simple. "Everybody deserves to be happy, the only question is at what price".
and the price isn't just monetary, its anything in exchange of what would make you happy. Sometimes you felt like you lost nothing and that you are simply blessed,but look around you, maybe there is a reason for you to be happy. Everything has a price, everything has an equivalent and opposite value and for me that includes happiness.
1 comments:
The ultimate goal of man is to be happy. Agreed. And to pay homage where it’s due: hats off to Carlo, a guy no less, to realize that this early into our lives, more so to say it out loud.
That said, I’m sure you’ve heard sundry thoughts on this, so now hear mine: I don’t know exactly what makes us happy, I don’t know that someTHING will make us happy, what I do believe is that someONE can make us happy in a way that nothing and no one else ever can.
Trinkets, I think, delight us, makes us feel joy for periods of time; physical intimacy brings satisfaction, maybe momentary euphoria, which may or may not linger. To these two, I think, Newton’s most famous statement is applicable. We pulled or pushed to get our little trinkets and moments of satisfactions in life, or someone did it for us. Part of it is: there is an equal, opposite pull or push to that. The price to pay, as you said. Because these are things that do not make us happy, merely makes us feel emotions we have come to associate with happiness; thus, obtainable by paying a price.
But emotional happiness, I think, is in a league all its own. Emotional happiness is something just one can bring. I think there’s something in being completely loved by one that nothing else in this world can surpass or even equal. I’m not talking about the kind that you were born with, but the kind that hits you like a truck without warning. Being given it so wholly and unexpectedly without any expectations of payback – nothing can make anyone take a step back and evaluate her life more than that, nothing can make us take a closer look than a true act of love. And when we see clearly, it’s easy to see what’s been before us all this time, and loving back comes naturally and comfortably. And two merge into one, and when they’re apart nothing can keep them that way, and forever isn’t enough time to spend together. That’s love; it’s just... there. Love that, yes, Carlo, everyone deserves. In retrospect, we may have paid a price to get it, but it’s a price we’re happy to pay. It’s a price so insignificant compared to what we’re getting, that’s it’s not really a price at all.
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