How to be happy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYT-dD1vN_A

How to be happy is the most treated subject in universal literature and also the most discussed in philosophy and anthropology. Thousands of liters of ink have been spent and in spite of all this we see that human happiness is a big problem and most of us do not know how to reach it. This subject is also touched upon by Jordan Peterson, who tells us that one cannot achieve happiness in a direct way, like taking a trip, but that happiness arises as a consequence of a lifestyle based on values and very deep convictions. La identidad del hombre:  ser o no ser

I believe that the best way to approach this not easy subject is to simplify it as much as possible in the form of a synthesis of the great teachings offered by Judeo-Christian wisdom.  First of all, it is a question of starting from the fact that man absolutely seeks happiness and needs goods, which manifest a hierarchical order according to their importance for a maximally happy life.

Material goods

In the first place, there are the material goods that man needs to be able to live: food, clothing, a proper roof for himself and his family, etc. These goods are rather conditions without which man cannot live. And yet they have the virtue of producing a strong satisfaction, so that not a few give them excessive importance, thus creating the risk of thinking that there are no other superior goods. La tiranía de la meritocracia

In this way the condition is mistaken for the cause of happiness. Proof of this is that, under extreme conditions, man is capable of enduring to a certain extent the lack of these prior conditions, especially if he is moved by a higher good, such as heroism, fidelity, etc.  Thus man is capable of sacrificing himself for the sake of a higher good, such as love for his children, the responsibility to fulfill commitments (doctor, nurse, etc.).

The higher goods

Then follow the less material goods: the aesthetic joy offered by art, the beauty of anything, the harmony, the creativity of something useful or beautiful and so on. Going up in the hierarchy of goods we then reach the wonder of paternal and filial love and the whole scale of legitimate and very different loves, such as, for example, the love for friends, for the dog of the house, for science, for the arts, for nature, etc. or the love that can be felt towards one’s own country, one’s own region, one’s own culture. Here we see clearly how the higher goods of an immaterial nature are the ones that really begin to be relevant to happiness.

In the order of love, in its highest reality and expression, one arrives at the eternal and sublime love that can only take place in the personal relationship with God. If man succeeds in rooting himself in this promised land, happiness is assured, even if it does not exclude a certain sacrifice, because in order to lead an honest and dignified life it is necessary to assume the effort of obedience to the will of God, being its part the daily work and the service that we have to render to the people we love.

Conclusions

If man the person has not received education in love, both at home and at school, it will be very likely that he will remain stuck in material goods, mistakenly thinking that they are the only cause of happiness. This error manifests terrible consequences that we all know: materialistic people – even if they consider themselves religious – who are chained only to material goods. In other words, they are determined by money because with it they obtain all material goods.

The socio-cultural manifestation of this attitude is precisely the society in which we live, where everything is measured according to economic criteria, including people and institutions. The materialistic man is very little free, because he lives enslaved by things and in great danger of falling into the snares of alcohol, pornography and drugs.

But it can never be said that a particular person is totally materialistic or absolutely spiritual. People who are more attached to material goods know, because their own conscience tells them so, that there are higher values that they should reach. And they know that these superior goods would make them happy.

The problem is that to reach this level of immaterial goods requires a lot of personal formation and a lot of courage, to face the efforts required to conquer the superior goods. To enjoy art it is necessary to have an aesthetic sensibility that has to be cultivated. The same happens with the ascent to the highest and absolute goods that are the love of God, which can be reached through personal efforts and exercises in dealing with God because it is a hidden treasure.

The person who succeeds in ascending to this maximum level is necessarily happy and it usually manifests itself in a deep inner peace and even in a joy that transcends to others. In this situation, finally, man tastes a wide freedom because he is not chained to inferior goods that often carry with them all kinds of moral miseries, such as, for example, dependence on drugs, pornography, sex abuse or idleness. El Bien y el Mal II

The verb to love is used to express all kinds of tastes, inclinations and interests. But in a proper sense, love can only be between people and never towards a thing. If it were really so, we would have an idolatrous love that lowers man to the level of his beloved object and at the same time enslaves him.