“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Untited States Constitution) - I’ve always taken these words to be a noble and poignant sentiment espousing the lofty ideals of freedom until a recent talk by
Tony Campolo (Emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University) at
The Gathering in Columbus, OH. His hypothesis was that being happy and the pursuit of happiness was not a goal but a state achieved as a result of obtaining another goal. He contends that goal is goodness. It struck me, at its hearing, that achievement of a state of being good; i.e. personal virtue, kindness, honesty, integrity was possibly the primary direction lost in the pursuit of happiness.
Maybe it’s because being happy is much harder to define in a precise way. It is an elusive goal in that it constantly changes. I’m happy with my car until the new models come out. I’m happy with my wardrobe until the fashion changes. I’m happy with my church until I get offended by what someone says or doesn’t say and I feel uncomfortable because of conviction or lack of it. I’m happy in my marriage until I feel undervalued or over used or unappreciated than I leave. I’m not happy because I feel I’m not getting my fair share or my neighbor is getting more than his. I don’t want to be happy because I don’t get any attention and I’m only happy when I get attention. So to be happy what I must do is anything that will make me happy. Whether unkind, selfish, dishonest, illegal, or depraved it is okay because in order to be happy and to achieve my goal I must do whatever it takes.
So here we are, all of us with noble intention only trying to be the best little people we can while moving slowly, generation after generation, moving away from the real goal of goodness. The farther we move away from the mountain the more it looks like a hill. Even the definition of good has changed to something that fits our pursuit of happiness. We now readily accept the fact that lying is okay if the truth will make someone unhappy. It’s acceptable to over spend in a world of poverty because of the pleasure of immediate consumption. In recent history we have seen cheating, fraud, terrorism, and ruthless cruelty done by humankind in the name of goodness that has morphed into nothing more the hidden search for happiness. The reward of happiness without goodness is empty despair.
Make no mistake, I am not outside of the indictments I present nor are any of us. My hope is that we can move to a more introspective perspective and choose lifestyles that move us away from blind happiness to the real happiness of being good. It is my belief that G-d wants us to be good not happy and as we pursue goodness we learn the secret. You can be happy if you seek goodness no matter how miserable you think you are.
