Tilted; “Man’s Desire For Happiness”
Last week I sent out the first in the series of messages I intend to occupy us with every Sunday at this trying moment, for the sole aim of taking advantage of the lockdown to remember our Creator, instead of having to lament all day long, and day in day out. The initial message elicited different reactions. Some considered it too long, while others reacted that the message was not easily comprehensible. A good percentage still embraced the message and demanded for a continuation.
I have taken all the comments in good faith and will try to accommodate all the suggestions. In deference to the reactions, I will be scaling down both on the language and content, without necessarily losing the substance in the process.
Before proceeding, it is of essence i made it unambiguous at the outset that this message is not intended to convert anyone into any particular religion or sect. Religious teachings might have become corrupted by the latter day and commercial practitioners, the truth nonetheless is, all religions were set up for the same purpose. It to take us to our Creator.
The word “religion” itself was adopted from the latin word “Religare” which means to bind. That is a topic for another day though.
The target therefore,are those who are not blind and sheepish followers. I humbly have in mind, those who are ready and willing to think outside the box,along with like and candid minds, by deploring the boon of better brain given them by the Creator and which, differentiates human beings from the animals and other lower species, for without using this boon of man,such are scarcely better than the animals. Only better simply for the fact that at least, they try to cover their nakedness. The parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 vs 14- 30 is very clear on this to the discerning minds.
Meanwhile,the title of today’s message is something we all hanker after i.e.Man’s Desire For Happiness.
Who in this life wouldn’t like to be truly happy? Virtually there is none. It is quite discernible that the desire for happiness is one of the most powerful fuels that drive human life.
Yet,how many people could say they ever really achieve it. Is it not a fact that most of us spend most of our lives in the pursuit of one happiness or the other? And we want the happiness to last,dont we?
We search for happiness in many directions- in employment,in relationships, community development, carriers,making money,having sex,reading books,clubbing,going to movies,consuming alcohol,taking drugs,smoking,eating out,shopping, in seeking power,popularity and fame. What is unarguable is that all these adventures of ours lie outside us. This obviously implies that happiness is generally thought to be found through the outside world.
Sometimes, for a brief moment, a person may feel he has achieved what he was looking for,but in no time that contentment is gone. What we have come to realize is that sense of satisfaction that is experienced through externalities never endure. It doesn’t last long. This is the problem. Sooner or later, something else is needed.
A new source of happiness has to be sought. The mind tires of what he has and once again the person becomes frustrated,he feels that something is lacking. Once more he or she goes out into the world looking for something new to satisfy the rabid mind.
If it is a new car that brings delight, then after a year or two,the delight wears thin and the car which was once a toast of the owner and the family has become just an old model that doesn’t satisfy any longer. It is the same with relationship,unless the love account is topped up and make vibrant every now and then,in no time, the relationship would become insipid.
What sustains marriages the world over is tolerance. Nothing else really. It is thus arguable that a good percentage of the world’s population would prefer to remain unmarried, if they were given the privilege to relive their lives altogether. It is perhaps the same with carriers,same with entertainment and ditto with everything external,what money can buy and with all the so-called thrills of life, without exception.
Now, we could ask for argument sake; In this world,is there any joy or happiness that doesn’t change and could remain with us. Those that are given to disputation could stoutly react and say; Yes,such happiness is possible if only things were different…….if I could win that election or get that promotion…..If only I would lose twenty pounds, if i could secure that contract or appointment, if I could find the right partner et al. But then,the world doesn’t conform to our fantasies and back,we climb unto the same old platform of discontent.
With such befuddlement, the question that readily comes to mind is; Is it possible we are going about looking for happiness in wrong places? To answer this question intelligibly,one needs to primarily answer another question and that is; Who or what am I?
For instance, if we took a lion and put it in a cage in a circus,could we get any idea of the lion’s real potential? Similarly, if we took a freshwater fish and put it in the sea,do we think that the fish would survive? Certainly, the lion would feel emasculated and suffer, while the freshwater fish would die. This reason is simply for the fact that every creature,by its nature has specific needs to thrive and realize its potential.Humans are not different.
What then are our needs as human beings that we imagine ourselves to be, having forgotten that we are not just human beings,who have descended into the world to eat, drink, procreate and then die, to be cremated or lowered into the sepulchre for all manner of maggots and other earthly creatures to feast on our liveless bodies. Could that be the be-all-and-end-all of the precious human life? Uncommon sense suggests the contrary. Another subject for another day still.
Meanwhile we may believe it or not, we are all spiritual beings now in the world undergoing human experience.This world is not our home we have heard that repeatedly. Our human body is a neccessary vehicle for the soul to transverse the coarse material plane, in the same manner a diver puts on a diving suit to operate beneath the sea. Does the diving suit make the diver a mere fish to feast on smaller fish or be consumed by bigger fish? Nope!!!
It goes without saying that; Only if we understand who or what we really are,can we know what will truly satisfy us. Thus; It is possible we are mistaken as to our real nature. Is it perhaps why we find it impossible to stay happy for too long?
For a teaser, it is meet as a parting shot to remind us that all human beings are born to an inheritance far above their wildest flights of fancy. The biblical story of the prodigal son captures our plight in this world vividly. Put differently,our soul is compared to a beautiful queen who wanders away from the palace. Her mind becomes clouded.She lays aside her royal robes,clothes herself in rags and becomes an associate of the lowest of the low.
Having lost all knowledge of our origin and of our noble inheritance, with minds nettled, perception dulled,we no longer have the least intuition of our innate powers and possibilities. Ergo; we continually imagine ourselves to be only a creature of the earth,a worm of the dust limited and bound by the physical.
But we are as confined as we chose to limit ourselves. The Merciful God has not limited the grace of expanded consciousness to the very few. It is in acknowledgement of this that the Messiah taught in Matthew 17 vs 20 to wit;
“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain,move from here to there and it would move. Nothing would be impossible for you”
To be continued.Meanwhile, let us seize the opportunity of the pandemic to ceaselessly remind HE who has given us the LIFE that we take for granted, and WHOM we seem to have abandoned in the rat race to inherit what we must leave behind as a cosmic rule, for empty handed we came, empty handed we must depart.
May we have the privilege of righteous guidance.
Aare GGG.
