THE GOAL OF HAPPINESS, FIVE PILLARS OF MAN (CONTINUED)

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          Unlike members of the plant and many of the animal kingdoms, man has the burden of seeking happiness endlessly, achieved one day and gone the next. Always, elusive happiness remains. This burden for happiness is man’s history while the rest of nature does not share this burden. Choice, free will, not possible without freedom, is an attribute unique to man giving him this burden. 

           Faced with choice, free will, man either runs away and lives for a while dying uneventfully in his bed, or embraces the freedom of choice, free will, voiding emptiness giving him happiness.

           Each of us was born of a doing not ours but our journey through and exit from life is of our doing, understanding wherever we live, the bed of death awaits. And to live a life the goal of which is to die quietly in our beds is a life with little, if any, happiness.

           Man’s endeavors throughout the ages have always been and remain a quest for happiness. It is a quest mandating recognizing happiness is achieved through the satisfaction of the Five Pillars of Man. And until these Pillars of Man are achieved, tomorrow will look like today with today looking like yesterday.

            These Five Pillars of Man are the Pillar of the Physical, the Pillar of the Intellect, the Pillar of the Emotional, the Pillar of the Spiritual and the Pillar of Love.

           Strengthening the Pillars requires replacing nobility with freedom, natural to man, unique to man. Land, titles, mean nothing. True nobility is not about inheriting titles, rather it is about caring for family and neighbors. And in this pursuit, brave we must be, remembering from the Bible the words, “Fortune favors the brave”. Fear of death is to be replaced with fear of betraying our virtue.

            Plato wrote happiness is the highest aim of human conduct and all the struggles of man are to develop the skills needed to obtain it. 

           John Lennon, echoing Plato, wrote, “When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”

           The skills, of which Plato speaks, needing development, involve these Five Pillars of Man understanding if one fails, all fail, forcing happiness to flee. 

           If one were to fly over this country looking down, one would see factories, industry, farms, mines, lumber yards, railroads, highways, cities and towns of all sizes, with lakes, rivers, mountains and deserts, of unbounded beauty, coming together with courage and imagination making a great nation from shining sea to shining sea.

           But if one were to get out, walk around and talk with the farmers, workers and bosses, the rich and poor, the people in this beauty not seen from high in the air, one would witness people fighting with each other to grab a bigger bite of the American apple.

           Happiness is not seen. The Five Pillars of Man are failing giving us a life focused on learning how to hold on when everything feels like it is falling apart in a chaotic and dangerous world where emphasis is on people pulling each other apart not pulling together.

            Shamefully people are united in the misery of unhappiness accompanied by loneliness pulling people apart from achieving that one goal truly uniting all. That is the goal of happiness. 

            It is imperative that of these Five Pillars of Man, the Physical Pillar demands attention as a beginning not as an end. With its achievement, the Intellectual Pillar, the Emotional Pillar, the Spiritual Pillar and the Pillar of Love have a chance to thrive, giving happiness a chance.

            Otherwise, we continue to live in a world as described by Thucydides, “The strong do what they can do, and the weak do what they must”.   

What can we do to bring happiness to these 40% of adults, and beyond, feeling loneliness?

The skills, of which Plato speaks, needing development, involve the Four Pillars of Man, these being the Physical (Material) Pillar, the Intellectual Pillar, the Emotional Pillar and the Spiritual Pillar. If one fails, all fail, forcing happiness to flee, bringing on loneliness, whereas happiness flows from the satisfaction of these Four Pillars. 

           If one were to fly over this country looking down, he would see factories, industry, farms, mines, lumber yards, railroads, highways, cities and towns of all sizes, with lakes, rivers, mountains and deserts, of unbounded beauty, coming together with courage and imagination making a great nation from sea to shining sea.

          But if one were to get out, walk around and talk with the farmers, workers and bosses, the rich and poor, the people in this beauty not seen from high in the air, he would witness people fighting with each other to grab a bigger bite of the American apple.

          Happiness is not seen. The Four Pillars of Man are failing giving us a life focused on learning how to hold on when everything feels like it is falling apart in a chaotic and dangerous world where emphasis is on people pulling each other apart not pulling together.

          Shamefully people are united in their lack of happiness accompanied by loneliness pulling people apart from achieving that one goal truly uniting all. That is the goal of happiness. 

           It is imperative that of these Four Pillars of Man, the Physical Pillar demands attention. With its achievement, the Intellectual Pillar, the Emotional Pillar and the Spiritual Pillar have a chance to thrive, giving happiness a chance.

            Otherwise, we continue to live in a world as described by Thucydides, “The strong do what they can do, and the weak do what they must”.