Happiness is a matter of one’s perspective towards life. A few may find it difficult to find “Happiness” in spite of all the pleasures and luxuries at their disposal, while yet others may very well find this enigma of an entity in the very basic little things or even in absence of these. Therefore, is there a roadmap in the pursuit to happiness? There, most likely isn’t one. It basically boils down to what one accepts as the most important component to happiness. Man is the most evolved among all the other species of living beings on earth and also the most complex creature as far as the working of the mind is concerned.
As we introspect
The evolution of the species of Homo sapiens from what it was millions of years back to the present-day mankind, while being an astonishing feat in itself, looking at the way mankind has turned out to be these days sometimes makes one wonder if it was worth the effort at all. Driven by greed, there seems to be no limit that can be demarcated beyond which man will not venture to achieve what he believes as the true destination of happiness. It seems, at times, that we as a race or species have lost our bearings with regards to life in totality. Over the years, we have ventured into several enterprises with boastful premise that everything in this universe belongs to us and that no other living being or has a right to life over the right that we claim. We have systematically exhausted many of the resources available in nature like it was our birth right and even after continuous warnings went about continuing with the same behavior to such an extent nature could take a breather only when a worldwide lockdown had to be imposed by Governments due to the pandemic. It did for a while make one think if ‘we are the virus plaguing the earth and pandemics such as the one’s we are going through as of now the vaccines or anti-virus induced by Mother Nature to reset the destruction brought about by us.
Lessons from Nature
There are many lessons that nature holds within its folds if we are ready to learn from it. Just spending some time with nature can not only give us some gainful insights but is most often than not, simply humbling. To realize that each of us is like a speck of dust when compared to the vastness of the universe and for all the elan that we may claim for any of our inventions or such other feats all that nature has to do is probably shake itself a bit to cause the so-called calamities, is truly humbling. Every element and every other species in nature is trying to live in harmony with nature. While there are several predators that walk the face of the earth, they hunt only to feed themselves; except of course the “Human” predator who hunts and vandalizes for the mere pleasure of it.
While the activities of every other living being are focused towards either feeding their hunger and to multiply themselves to keep their species alive throughout the cycle of evolution, it is only man who does things for every other reason. Centuries back ‘Yogis’ understood the higher possibilities that man can achieve with the ability to stand or sit up vertical (a vertical vertebrae) and dedicated their lives in exploring these possibilities and passed these valuable leanings down their lineage. These have, however, been rubbished aside by idiots who claim to be the authority on science, since they know better.
Happiness: An Enigma
So, to answer the question, “What is Happiness? And is there a roadmap to happiness”; Happiness is probably what we perceive it as. We can either decide certain actions or events, the happening of which will bring us happiness or we can decide to be in a happy state of mind while we go through each and every action and event of life. Enjoy the process of life and be happy through it. This is probably the true meaning of the saying “It is the means that matter and not the end”.
