Happiness
The most commonly asked question is — what is happiness?
Imagine a wealthy man, staring out of his 500sq ft, air-conditioned bedroom which is a part of a huge penthouse. The apartment faces the sea and is on the 50th floor. He is standing at the edge of the balcony — contemplating suicide.
Across the street, on the promenade, lies a poor man in tattered clothes. He is peacefully sleeping under the hot afternoon sun. He is absolutely lost in a dream less sleep.
What is happiness? It is a state of mind. Wealth, while it is necessary, is not to be associated with happiness.
Wealth grants you security. And I myself pursue it because I know the freedom it gives is insurmountable and I respect those who pursue it. Comforts and luxuries of life help you achieve goals and be an asset to the society by contributing more towards it. So accumulating wealth is a valuable goal to have.
At the same time, we should know better than to associate it with happiness. Happiness is something beyond the materialistic goals and anything that is tangible. Happiness is that spark of light that emanates within you. It shines as bright as the sun in some of us and as bright as a small candle in rest of us.
The ‘oxygen’ required to keep this light burning lies in your state of mind. As I spoke about ‘reading’ being an extremely passive activity, I overheard someone say what reading or knowledge provides may not be physically visible. What it provides is ‘fodder’ for the peace in your mind.
It immediately clicked in me. The hours we spent reading may not be ‘useful’ in the capitalist sense. It is useful in the most personal sense.
Socrates was wary of books when they began making their appearance during his time. He said they would reduce the ‘scope for dialogue’. He wasn’t wrong. But it actually provides a space for a different form of dialogue. The one you have with the author and your mind.
It may be that someone who reads a lot spends a lot of time away from their physical social life — but at the same time they engage in a different form of ‘socialising’. The one with their own mind. That is an underrated form of dialogue.
A week before I turn 27, I’d like to make this vow to myself — Read more, listen more. This will increase the ‘oxygen’ I need to burn the fire of happiness inside me.
And of course, to eat more cake! :)
