Scientific attempts to define happiness often rely on external indicators such as high average income, low unemployment, economic freedom, and an open labor market. Yet, despite these seemingly favorable conditions, true happiness remains elusive. Even generous social welfare benefits and reduced inequality do not guarantee a sense of well-being. For example, Norway, despite its high standard of living, has one of the highest suicide rates.
Scientists attempt to measure happiness through life expectancy, education, GDP per capita, and purchasing power, yet people still do not feel truly happy. This is because happiness is not a material state but a spiritual one.
Happiness is the connection with eternity and perfection, the very purpose of life that we can continually calibrate ourselves toward.
However, if we take a step toward this ultimate purpose, we find ourselves receding from it once again, and this generates an ongoing process of aspiration. Such a pursuit has its pains and struggles, but they are not empty pains. Instead, they are the sweet suffering of love, i.e., the simultaneous feeling of yearning and fulfillment that together form the sensation of happiness.
For example, two people might long for each other for many years, suffering from separation, moving toward one another, dreaming of unity. When they finally meet, all past suffering merges with their present moment of closeness, creating a powerful sense of happiness. The more these two opposing forces of longing and fulfillment grow and sustain each other, the stronger the feeling of happiness becomes.
There can be no happiness without suffering, and suffering must inevitably lead to happiness. This is why it is called the “suffering of love,” as love cannot exist without the prior experience of longing, lack, and desire. These desires emerge precisely in the search, in the movement toward love, forming a vessel for the sensation of happiness. However, when we achieve happiness, it begins to fade.
Therefore, happiness must be continually renewed. Even if we physically remain with a loved one, we must constantly cultivate new desires and aspirations toward them. By doing so, we create the illusion of distance, reigniting the longing and the joy of closeness again and again.
Happiness exists in balance, in the middle line between two forces. On one side is the continuous revelation of striving, longing, and emptiness; on the other is connection, love, and fulfillment. The middle line unites these forces, ensuring that desire and fulfillment grow together. This lets us experience eternity and perfection, where we sway between extremes but exist in both simultaneously.
However, this understanding cannot be conveyed through external explanations. It requires inner development, the refinement of perception that people do not yet possess. This is precisely the purpose of the wisdom of Kabbalah, i.e., the wisdom of “how to receive” (“Kabbalah” means “reception” in Hebrew). It teaches how to build such a vessel in which we can feel genuine, lasting happiness.
I found the article very interesting and the conclusion it reaches is undoubtedly a reasonable, intelligent and also shareable thesis.
The pursuit of happiness is a universal constant in human life.
I personally consider it a changeable and momentary condition of well-being, comfort and joy. Above all, it should not be confused with the pure emotions of satisfaction and pleasure. Happiness goes beyond simple gratification and is expressed as an authentic feeling of contentment, capable of positively influencing the individual and his vision of the world.
There are different definitions of this concept, each with peculiar nuances, but they all converge on the feeling of general well-being. It can derive from a wide range of experiences, from small daily joys to great personal goals.
However, I think that defining what it is exactly remains a complex and elusive topic. Those about happiness remain existential questions that human beings have always asked themselves but that have not yet found an answer. The only certainty is that more and more people are constantly searching for happiness and inner well-being. If this is the case, we can conclude that happiness is not a goal you reach, it is the individual steps you take towards that goal.
Great post Michael and I liked the way you approached happiness.
Happiness is a spiritual state, connecting us with eternity and perfection. It is a balance between striving, longing, and emptiness, and connection, love, and fulfillment. Kabbalah, or the wisdom of “how to receive,” teaches how to build a vessel for genuine, lasting happiness, requiring inner development and refinement of perception.
I wrote few posts and presentations on the measurement of intangibles, including one for BIZCATALYST titled
“Intangibles Effects and Measurement”
I ended the article with “The power of intangibles is that they teach us it is not what you have. More, it is what you do with what you have. It is the power of actions.”
I remember that post and I agree with the conclusion because I have always thought that happiness, in reality, cannot be measured, it is practiced.
Thank you Aldo. The effect of happiness is what we feel. I agree with you
Thank You!