The whole of our life can be summarized as a pursuit of happiness. And with happiness, we usually mean achieving worldly material possessions or relationships. We run behind newer and newer things or venture into the unknown worlds to establish ourselves.
I think this arises from a feeling that we need to be more than what we are, and that somehow the new goal will complete us of who we are. Once we achieve the goal, the initial elation and happiness slowly transforms to equanimity and finally to a feeling of ’empty in essence’ and then we move on to the next goal. As we look around us now, whatever we have achieved – the material possessions and relationships which seemed as a source of happiness earlier are lost over time or fail to fulfill us now. Our minds could not hold onto anything permanently.
Whatever we are doing now will most likely either be forgotten or destroyed within the next 100 years. Comparing to the number of people who live, who lived , who will live on this planet earth, we are just another speck of dust disappearing into the vast universe within a next few years.
Moreover, this also brings us the understanding of the transient nature of things. Whatever we have now and regard as precious may be lost over time or we may realize its inherent incapability to fulfill us permanently – may it be our youth, our money, our relationships and in the end, the whole memory of them all.
I am beginning to doubt if our current lifestyle of chasing materialistic abundance and increased economic activity is the solution to our pursuit of happiness which seems to be a distant mirage now.
