1 John 4:1
Most
beloved, do not be willing to believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see
if they are of God. For many false
prophets have gone out into the world.
Sheryl Crow sings out, “If it makes you happy, it
can’t be that bad.” And we of mainstream
living live out this credo, taking it as gospel – but, maybe it’s not true.
What is happiness?
Too often, we equate it with pleasure, with mere feelings like the
satisfaction of a full belly or the excitement of a thrill. Something in our bodies tells us that this is
good and we pursue this kind of happiness as the ultimate good. Perhaps we live decent lives, but, then, our
children who should be a source of pride and joy have extra needs and become a
drain on our physical, financial, and emotional resources; our partners stop
complementing us or paying us the attention that our egos crave and we and our
partners lapse into meanness; our jobs, the way that we support our families,
becomes tediously boring; or we simply become tired of not exploring the
pleasures of the world, of not getting thrilled, of merely doing what is
expected of us without any feeling of satisfaction. Then we believe the voices in the world that
tell us that we shouldn’t be living this way – that these lives of heartaches,
thrill-less relationships, thankless work and sacrifice, are weighing us down and
keeping us from true fulfillment and happiness.
One very loud voice in the world is telling us that
we should look sexier – diet, exercise, new style, new clothing, even cosmetic
surgery, will give us sex appeal and make us feel better about ourselves – and
then we will be happy. Another loud
voice tells us that the vastness of the world should not be left unexplored,
that there are exciting and fulfilling adventures waiting for us if we will
just hop in the car for a road trip, go on a cruise, travel abroad to foreign
lands and collect memories along with our photographs and souvenirs, with the
chance that we will meet a new and exciting love interest or learn some foreign
secret to happiness. Fame and fortune have
always been loud, twinned voices, calling out from the world – our own culture
makes celebrities out of shallow people who are willing to humiliate themselves
on television, extolling the self-centered and ridiculous as people worth watching,
worth spending time with, worth knowing more about (Jersey Shore and The Kardashians come to mind) while continually
showcasing the fun and amusement to be had through decadent spending of lavish
amounts of money.
There is another voice trying to gain popularity,
one that returns thoughts to the simple pleasures of childhood – running
through sprinklers, playing catch in the backyard, picking daisies, playing
dress-up at a little party with imaginary tea.
Yet, it seems that these voices always come through advertisements for
new “necessities”, like ultimate sunscreen or luxury cars or electronic devices. Though, sometimes, they are through ads for lemonade,
a pleasing taste sensation. The back-to-basics
voice that is active in society, not simply as a marketing campaign, is
generally centered on a concern for the environment. This voice, at least, is centered in
something that is fundamental to being human – the air we breathe, the water we
drink, our own bodies. But, again, it emphasizes
the importance of what we see (the beauty of the natural world) and what we
feel (healthy fitness and quaint warm-and-fuzzies). How will we then react to a natural disaster,
to disease or to relationship unpleasantness?
Usually the answer is to eradicate these things through some kind of
technological and pharmaceutical progress – and, as a last resort, make suicide
a pleasant resolution. The simpler and
yet more profound answer to this would be to take the bad with the good. But… What if the bad isn’t that bad?
What if it’s not the worst thing to die at four years
of age? What if it’s not terrible to become
blind or paralyzed or senile? What if it’s
not such a bad thing to feel unappreciated and bored when fulfilling
responsibilities? What if doing the same
thing day after day isn’t a rut? What if
thoughtlessness and rudeness from the people in our lives isn’t the curse that
goes with stone? What if it’s the gem itself
and, where there is ultimate, deeply loved love, there is no curse? The lying voice would say that there is no
curse anywhere in anything. And though
it is true that stinging bees make the flowers bloom, we human beings can most
certainly curse ourselves, we can weigh ourselves down by fighting against
reality until we drown in our own misery.
This happens when we believe the voices that tell us that self-preservation
is ultimate happiness or that the natural world that goes on without us is the
ultimate good. In reality, we are needed
in the world and not because we exist for ourselves – and not because we are
mere cogs in a machine, either.
Individually, intimately and infinitely loved are we by the Ultimate One
who sees everything, who knows everything, and who chose to bring us into
being. Our lives are dependent on this
Creator and Master, and if we believe in the One, the One who is Truth, then we
will trust, and with loving trust – with faith – we will know true happiness
that is true joy: being loved infinitely and loving unconditionally.
Christina Chase
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