Life is often compared to a journey. Just when a person may begin a trip with no final destination in mind, he or she could live his life without identifying its real purpose. In the well-known writing “the busy-ness of life” by Stephen R. Covey, he wrote about those who “find themselves achieving victories that are empty, successes that have come at the expense of things they suddenly realize were far more valuable to them.” Would we not agree that making a trip not heading in the right direction or with no final destination in mind would be pointless? Likewise, looking for meaning in life by simply increasing our “busy-ness” will bring only emptiness, not true fulfillment.
Happiness is necessity for humans. They need to enjoy good health and long life as well as peace and security even the world today is full of misery: disasters, calamities, diseases, wars, crime, and injustices are constantly on the increase. For instance, others claim to be practical and realistic, where they argue that meaningful life is through wealth and riches. They claim that the way to a meaningful life is when a person is wealthy and rich. However, history tells us that devastating experiences like business failures, economic depressions, crime, violence, wars, and disasters have ruined the fortunes of many in an instant. Experience like those is the everyday content of news whether on TV or in newspapers; to count them would be countless. So it is not reliable to put your trust or to look for true happiness through wealth and riches. Psychology says that the more they look happiness into money, the less they find it there. King Solomon of the Bible put it this way: “The man who loves money can never have enough, and the man who is in love with great wealth enjoys no return from it.” Guy Wright in San Francisco Examiner wrote: “…if the choice is between happy poor and unhappy rich, the children of a laughing pauper are the ones to envy. For they will grow up with the expectation that life is good, that the world is a sunny and friendly place, that other people are as human and decent as they are, that is fun to be alive.” Neither wealth nor richness is the way to true happiness, a meaningful life.
Others pursue fame, power and position. They feel that if they become prominent, they can dominate and tower over others and be admired by them. However, no matter how successful a person may be, circumstances can change quickly and he can lose his position overnight; fame and glory brings only a temporary satisfaction. Because when a person’s life comes to an end, the fame and glory he enjoyed pass away with him. At the same time, many also feel that life is so short. So they do whatever they want in order to enjoy life pleasures and have a good time while they still can. Yes, entertainment and recreation do have place in life. But they can’t provide lasting happiness and satisfaction. How does a person feel when the excitement is over? Indeed, after all those who indulge in feasting and the merrymaking are often left feeling empty and exhausted; and it all exacerbates the life devoid of meaning.
Furthermore, we hear about anecdotal reports about persons who grow-up very poor in a troubled home but fought against all odds and become very wealthy. A report on happiness in the San Francisco Chronicle explains: “Such stories are sometimes cited as evidence that they made the best of a bad thing, turning out well despite or because of their unhappy childhoods,” says the report, “The problem with this interpretation, according to research, is that they may not have turned out so well after all. They just turned out wealthy.”
Wealth, fame, power, prominence, pleasures, revelry—none of them can bring lasting happiness and contentment. It is because those who seek happiness through these means have aimed in the wrong direction and followed the wrong path. They are concerned only with gratifying their physical or material desires. And they are left with the same spiritual void, longing, and frustration that they started with when all is said and done. They have found no real contentment and the victory they consider is nothing but—empty.
For our life to be meaningful, we must first understand why we are here. We see that birds and beasts are satisfied when their physical needs—eating and sleeping—are met. However, humans have needs far beyond these basic necessities. That is because we are endowed with a conscience which animals did not. Do wild beasts have a capacity for spiritual things? Humans do. Animals have never been concerned with the purpose of living, but we humans yearn to know the meaning of life. So to live with real happiness, we must fulfill the needs of the heart and the mind.
The question we are now facing is: how such needs can be satisfied? Specifically, the answers rely on these questions: ‘Where did man come from? What is the purpose of life? Is there a Sovereign Lord of the universe? If so, does he care about mankind? What is his purpose for us?’ All of these are very important questions, and you need the satisfying and correct answers. And when you eagerly look for an answer, satisfying and correct answer, you will be granted of hope to live a life with the true happiness—a meaningful life.
jasonbocabil 