[originally posted: 2/8/2017]
What is the point of life? I don’t think I’m the only one to have heard the idea that life is about being happy, finding our own happiness, or bringing happiness to other people.
I recently came across a phrase that has resulted in some reflection: ‘the illusion of happiness and the happiness of illusion’. In fact, I’ve been reading a lot of articles regarding that topic, not so much in search of an answer, but in the curiosity of hearing the opinions and philosophies that are out there.
Linguistically, the word happiness has close ties to the words luck and chance. If the expectation is to achieve happiness and reality falls short of the continuous state of elated bliss that is often held as the concept of happiness, does it mean that unhappiness is then inevitable? Can’t it instead be true that quiet contentment exists in the in-between, in the long spaces that collect between milestones, that being satisfied and pleased with our lives is accentuated by those moments of happiness but not to exist for them? And though we hope there are plenty of those moments, happiness exists as the result of internal and external conditions that we do not have control over. In the absence of the euphoria, we are not doomed and despaired, ever longing for happily-ever-after, but can still be fulfilled and gratified.