Sunday, January 11, 2009

"We Have No Right to Happiness"

Happiness. What is it? What if my happiness interferes with the happiness of someone else? That's not really cool, but I am happy, so its okay, right? That is something that I struggle with day in and day out. This particular essay had a significant tie to sex. I wasn't really sure why either. But in the example, Lewis explained a story that had taken place in his neighborhood. Where a man was tired of his old wife, so he got a new one. Passion is what drives us in life, it affects our behavior and decisions, and therefore our drive for happiness. But we have to be careful about how we pursue happiness. We need to stay within the law. We have freedom within the law, but we cannot break the law in order to achieve our happiness. There is a clear distinction between moral rights and legal rights. The two should not be confused at all. Gaining possessions is important to some people, and if they stole to get them, that would end up hurting other people and it wouldn't be legal. There is a huge distinction between legal rights and moral rights.
Throughout the discussion many points came up that through out the idea of our own happiness. I found it very interested when people brought up such people as Mother Teresa. She gave up her worldly happiness to help less fortunate people. And I believe she was content and happy doing that. She wanted to do that, and it gave her great happiness to help others. Someone in class said "Happiness isn't the point, loving God is the point." That stayed with me this weekend. Ryan also commented that "happiness is what you do with where God has put you." God put Mother Teresa in place to help people and she did the most she could with that. The decisions we make allow for God's happiness. There is a path we need to follow in order to be happy. And in the end, if we follow that path, we will be eternally happy. Happiness is not something we can pursue outside of God.

1 comment:

  1. Dear Joe,
    "Happiness isn't the point, loving God is the point." I do believe you got the main point of happiness. Most interestingly though is that God WANTS our happiness (Leviticus 26 for example) and He knows that we only can do that IF we follow His rules (He made us, so He knows what is best for us). About Mother Theresa, I think she ‘chose’ to go where she went. To her applies Paulo’s maxim “find the empty spot on the soccer field and your team will win, even if you are not a very strong player”.
    But you are right "happiness is what you do with where God has put you." Now, take the charge you assigned yourself, and watch the Holy Spirit work in you, and as a small child, enjoy when God says: well done faithful servant! Never, never, ever give this gem up…
    A & P

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