In his blog InspiredConsciousLiving, Brad lists 10 Commandments of Happiness. Perhaps there are not many people who agree with the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) that happiness “is not an ideal of reason but of imagination”. Certainly, it is not imagination!
Richard Whately (1787-1863) Archbishop of Dublin, noted that happiness “is no laughing matter”. Even more famously, Thomas Jefferson penned down that happiness is an inalienable right – it's pursuit, that is. There is a movie too, of that title, The Pursuit of Happyness.
Happiness is the goal of life – not pleasure as the English poet, dramatist and critic John Dryden (1631-1700) correctly remarked that “all the happiness mankind can gain is not in pleasure, but in rest from pain”. Ironically, Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) would later ask: “Doesn't happiness issue from pain?”
What we see here – and when you take a deep breath and think about it - is that happiness is indeed an ideal, but it is also elusive. In the course of pursuing happiness, what is found is often misery. There are numerous examples from relationships, occupations and careers, and lifestyles.
It is worthwhile looking at Brad's 10 Commandments of Happiness and the first one we'll examine is: Place Importance on the Things that Matter – number 2 on his list.
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