“Our Happiness lies in the Happiness of Other People…”

“Everyone is frantically looking for happiness, all over the place, not knowing where it is. Our Happiness lies in the Happiness of Other People…”

 Happiness is the ultimate search of every Human person. But where does in actual sense our happiness lie? In search of happiness, human beings pursue different things they think can bring them happiness.  They for instance, pursue money, wealth, alcohol, sex, women, men, friends, etc in other to attain happiness.  Experience has shown that these things can make us happy, there is no doubt, but the happiness we derive from them do not last. They only provide us what I call ‘fake’ happiness.

As I reflect on the genuine source of lasting happiness, I came across different stories and illustrations about genuine happiness. In the end I was left to deal with the following facts:

1. Happiness is not found in all the material things of life
2. No one pays attention to our true source of happiness
3. The very source of our happiness we turned it into our source of conflict
4. We are pursuing shadows in the guise of pursuit for happiness,
5. We are living in denial and suffer acute lack of knowledge of the real source of happiness

Our happiness in the end lies in the happiness of other People. Great men in history: Jesus, Buddha, Zoroaster, Laotze, Muhammad and all the illumined seers of the ages expressed the fact that our happiness lies in the happiness of other people.

A story was told of a group of “50 people who attended a seminar. Suddenly the speaker stopped and started giving each person a Balloon. Each one was asked to write his/her name on it using a marker. Then all the Balloons were collected and put in another room. Now these Delegates were let into that room and asked to find the balloon which had their respective names written on within 5 minutes. Everyone was frantically searching for their names, pushing and colliding with each other, and there was utter Chaos. At the end of 5 minutes, No One could find their own Balloons. Now each one was asked to Randomly Collect a Balloon and Give It to the Person whose Name was written on it. Within minutes, everyone had their own Balloons. The Speaker began: This is exactly what is happening, in our lives. Everyone is frantically looking for happiness, all over the place, not knowing where it is. Our Happiness Lies in the Happiness of Other People. Help them find their Happiness and you will get your Own Happiness too. And this is the Purpose of Human Life…”

Amita Gupta once said: “Nothing in nature lives for itself. Rivers don’t drink their own water. Trees don’t eat their own fruit. Sun doesn’t give heat for itself. Flowers don’t spread fragrance for themselves. Living for others is the rule of nature. And therein lies the secret of life…”

In the Gospel of Luke 6:38, Jesus told his followers: “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you”.

Every year, the founder of the Salvation Army church, William Booth would write a letter to all the branches of his church in all the countries. As he got older the letter got shorter and shorter and just before he died, the last letter he sent out only has one word and that word is OTHERS. He admonished the members of his church to live for others.

How interesting the Paradox staring at us today. The very place where our happiness lies is the place that is most despised. Instead of increasing our happiness by increasing the happiness of other people, we think that by  killing and destroying other people, we can increase our own happiness. Jesus understands this when he taught his listeners  to Love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (Luke 6:27-29).

Our happiness or unhappiness definitely  does not strictly speaking lie in others, but it lies in the happiness of others. We become happy or unhappy depending on our attitudes towards others, our good will towards others, how we treat others and how we genuinely desire to see others happy.

This might not be easy, but it remains a fact that when you are making others to be happy and successful in life, you will also become happy and successful.

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