HAPPINESS.
"The learned is happy Nature to explore,
The fool is happy that he knows no more."
Happiness is defined by Webster as an agreeable feeling or condition of
the soul arising from good of any kind; the possession of those
circumstances or that state of being which is attended with enjoyment;
the state of being happy; felicity; blessedness: bliss; joyful
satisfaction.
_Happiness_ is generic and applied to almost every kind of enjoyment
except that of the animal appetites; _felicity_ is a more formal word,
and is used more sparingly in the same general sense, but with elevated
associations; _blessedness_ is applied to the most refined enjoyment
arising from the purest social, benevolent, and religious affections;
_bliss_ denotes still more exalted delight, and is applied more
appropriately to the joy anticipated in heaven.
Happiness is only comparative, and we drink it in, in the exact ratio of
our understanding to interpret the justice of the divinity within us.
The first pre-requisite is_ wisdom_, the second is like unto it, _more
wisdom_, and the third sufficient understanding to know that it is
wisdom.
"It is easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows by like a song,
But the man worth while is one who will smile
When everything goes dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
And the smile that is worth the praises of earth
Is the smile that shines through tears.
"It is easy enough to be prudent
When nothing tempts you to stray,
When without or within no voice of sin
Is luring your soul away.
But it's only a negative virtue
Until it is tried by fire,
And the life that is worth the honor of earth
Is the one that resists desire.
"By the cynic, the sad, the fallen,
Who had no strength for the strife,
The world's highway is cumbered to-day,
They make up the item of life,
But the virtue that conquers passion,
And the sorrow that hides in a smile,
It is these that are worth the homage of earth,
For we find them but once in a while."
--_Ella Wheeler Wilcox._
We possess none of the attributes save in a degree only, any one of
which can be intensified, brightened, or benefited by our thoughts and
actions. The shortest road to happiness, after having cleansed your
body, actions, and thoughts, is to "do all the good you can, in all the
ways you can, to all living creatures you can, just as long as you can."
The more unselfish you become, the less you think of personal comfort,
and the more pleasure you take in the comforts of others, the deeper and
broader will the fountains of your own happiness become. There is no
class of people who have equal happiness or bliss pictured upon their
countenances to those who practice and teach the universal brotherhood
of man without regard to race, creed, sex, caste, or color.
Happiness is like manna. It is to be "gathered in grains and enjoyed
every day; it will not keep; it cannot be accumulated; nor need we go
out of ourselves nor into remote places to gather it, since it is rained
down from heaven at our very doors, or, rather, within them."
George Macdonald says: "A man must not choose his neighbor; he must take
the neighbor that God sends him. In him, whoever he be, lies hidden or
revealed a beautiful brother. Any rough-hewn semblance of humanity will
at length be enough to move the man to reverence and affection."
And there is a still more extensive love, urges Charles Mackay:--
"You love your fellow-creatures? So do I,--
But underneath the wide paternal sky
Are there no fellow-creatures in your ken
That you can love except your fellow-men?
Are not the grass, the flowers, the trees, the birds,
The faithful beasts, true-hearted, without words,
Your fellows also, howsoever small?
He's the best lover who can love them all."
There are certain principles that lead to positive happiness. One of
these is the avoiding of mistakes. "What have been termed 'the fourteen
mistakes of life' are given as follows: It is a great mistake to set up
our own standard of right and wrong and judge people accordingly; to
measure the enjoyment of others by our own; to expect uniformity of
opinion in this world; to look for judgment and experience in youth; to
endeavor to mould all dispositions alike; not to yield to immaterial
trifles; to look for perfection in our own actions; to worry ourselves
and others with what cannot be remedied; not to alleviate all that needs
alleviation as far as lies in our power; not to make allowances for the
infirmities of others; to consider everything impossible that we cannot
perform; to believe only what our finite minds can grasp; to expect to
be able to understand everything. The greatest of mistakes is to live
for time alone when any moment may launch us into eternity."
Ignorance is a state of happiness that many fairly intellectual people
cite as well worthy of emulation; but those who assert it have not
understood, or attempted to fathom, how shallow is this lake of
knownothingness called "ignorance." Only a slight ripple can be seen on
the bosom of a shallow lake during the most fearful storm, yet but a
slight zephyr is needed to show the white caps upon the grand old ocean,
and at the least provocation of a storm "see how she causes the
continents to tremble, showing her great depth and majesty." If in the
presence of this happy, ignorant personage, we place the most beautiful
piece of statuary or painting, or produce the most startling of
Shakespeare's plays, with the best living talent, or have the most
gifted vocalist sing the most difficult _aria_, or have a panorama of
the pyramid Jeezeh, Eiffel Tower, Washington Monument, Philadelphia City
Hall, Cologne Cathedral, all actual size, and such of nature's grandest
views as the Yosemite Fall, and Father of the Forest, we would look upon
this happy individual and listen in breathless silence for his opinion.
Well, what of it? what is to prevent it? would be the reply. But note
the difference even in a cultured child; see the gentle cheek turn from
pale pink to livid carmine, the heart pant, the bosom heave, and the
whole form, for the time being, feel itself suspended in the air. To the
above picture, add cultured, ripe old age, and the enjoyment, ecstasy,
and pure happiness that would follow could only be measured by the
difference between where _we_ stand and the _end_ of space!
Prerequisites in the begetting of wisdom are, first, you must be regular
in everything you do, act, or think. This will give you health. Second,
you must be regular, cleanly, temperate, and moral. This will start you
on the road to happiness. Third, in addition to the first and second
propositions, you must exercise self-control in all its aspects if you
would have health, be happy, and live to excessive old age, before the
culmination of which you will possess wisdom of no ordinary character.
Let the legend that "man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands
mourn," cease, and in its place have, "The universal brotherhood of man
removes the shackles of inhumanity, replacing them by bands of love."
This will elevate the trend of human thought, and every zephyr of human
intellect will gather and multiply until a cyclone of happiness
envelopes the earth; like love it will seem but a soothing breeze to the
human heart, so gentle will fall its benign influences.
This brings us to the point where every person is led to look to each of
the four points of the compass and there exclaim, "Who or what is God?"
This is the first thing upon which intelligent beings should render a
decision; mankind can only approximate happiness until they have
settled in their own mind this point. It is not imperative that your
decision should cover _all_ the truth or the _only_ truth in regard to
Deity, but it should preclude all doubt on the part of the person so
deciding. There is just as much inconsistency in the statement that we
know who and what is God in his physical proportions, just where He or
It resides, and just what relation It or He holds toward the human
monad, man, as there is in the assertion, "There is no God."
There is no harm, however, in asserting our belief in _one_ God, the
Trinity, or a great First Cause. If we believe it and shape our lives
accordingly, true light will be given sufficient to satisfy each
searcher after the Truth; and he or they will advance to some other
belief just when it is necessary. The exultant Methodist receives his
light in one form, and the quiet Quaker in another. The devout Catholic
represents still another type of ritualistic form, and the Wisdom
Religionist (Theosophist) seems to get his from Nature, and finds some
good in everything. With the 1,100 other different kinds of faith, there
should be no complaint on our part of a variety from which to choose.
We offer not as anything new, but as something possibly forgotten, the
following formulae for obtaining happiness, _viz._: (1) The carrying out
in our lives and actions the Golden Rule; (2) total unselfishness as
regards self; (3) trying to excel all others in doing what the world
calls _good_; (4) condemning no one until we have heard both sides of the
question in dispute; (5) having the same tender compassion for all the
lower animals that you exercise towards the human family; (6) following
out consistently some religious belief, and, until you are convinced of
a better one, defending it; (7) above all other things, having charity
for every person's short-comings and belief. Add to these a few
intrinsic principles: (1) Happiness is no other than soundness and
perfection of mind; (2) there are two ways of being happy--we may either
diminish our wants or augment our means--either will do, the result is
the same; and it is for each man to decide for himself, and do that
which happens to be the easiest; (3) happiness is a road-side flower
growing on the highways of usefulness; (4) carry the radiance of your
soul in your face; let the world have the benefit of it; (5) learn the
lesson embodied in this little poem:--
THE TWO WORKERS.
"Two workers in one field
Toiled on from day to day,
Both had the same hard labor,
Both had the same small pay;
With the same blue sky above,
The same green grass below,
One soul was full of love,
The other full of woe.
"One leaped up with the light,
With the soaring of the lark;
One felt it ever night,
For his soul was ever dark.
One heart was hard as stone,
One heart was ever gay;
One worked with many a groan,
One whistled all the day.
"One had a flower-clad cot
Beside a merry mill;
Wife and children near the spot
Made it sweeter, fairer still.
One a wretched hovel had,
Full of discord, dirt, and din,
No wonder he seemed mad,
Wife and children starved within.
"Still they worked in the same field,
Toiled on from day to day,
Both had the same hard labor,
Both had the same small pay;
But they worked not with one will:
The reason let me tell--
Lo! the one drank at the still,
And the other at the well."
(6) Embody in your lives the better idea of this poem, "Where Do You
Live," by Josephine Pollard:--
"I knew a man, and his name was Horner,
Who used to live on Grumble Corner:
Grumble Corner, in Cross-Patch Town,
And he was never seen without a frown.
He grumbled at this; he grumbled at that;
He growled at the dog; he growled at the cat;
He grumbled at morning; he grumbled at night;
And to grumble and growl were his chief delight.
"He grumbled so much at his wife that she
Began to grumble as well as he;
And all the children, wherever they went,
Reflected their parents' discontent.
If the sky was dark and betokened rain,
Then Mr. Horner was sure to complain;
And, if there was never a cloud about,
He'd grumble because of a threatened drought.
"His meals were never to suit his taste;
He grumbled at having to eat in haste;
The bread was poor, or the meat was tough,
Or else he hadn't had half enough.
No matter how hard his wife might try
To please her husband, with scornful eye
He'd look around, and then, with a scowl
At something or other, begin to growl.
"One day, as I loitered about the street,
My old acquaintance I chanced to meet,
Whose face was without the look of care
And the ugly frown which it used to wear.
'I may be mistaken, perhaps,' I said,
As, after saluting, I turned my head;
'But it is, and it isn't, the Mr. Horner
Who lived for so long on Grumble Corner!'
"I met him next day; and I met him again,
In melting weather, and pouring rain,
When stocks were up and when stocks were down;
But a smile somehow had replaced the frown.
It puzzled me much; and so one day
I seized his hand in a friendly way,
And said: 'Mr. Horner, I'd like to know
What can have happened to change you so?'
"He laughed a laugh that was good to hear,
For it told of a conscience calm and clear,
And he said, with none of the old-time drawl,
'Why, I've changed my residence, that is all!'
'Changed your residence?' 'Yes,' said Horner,
'It wasn't healthy on Grumble Corner,
And so I moved; 'twas a change complete;
And you'll find me now on Thanksgiving Street!'
"Now, every day as I move along
The streets so filled with the busy throng,
I watch each face and can always tell
Where men and women and children dwell;
And many a discontented mourner
Is spending his days on Grumble Corner,
Sour and sad, whom I long to entreat
To take a house on Thanksgiving Street."