Truth & Happiness

A couple weekends ago I was standing in front of 120 seventh graders with their dozen or so chaperones. They were on a retreat preparing for Confirmation and what I was about to say was supposed to not only begin their day of retreat, but also initiate their whole Confirmation process. These were new Confirmation students who had not even begun their formal education process in the Roman Catholic faith yet. What does one say to them?

"How many of you here are happy?"

That's what I started with. Why not just get right to the heart of the matter? However, I didn't want to leave it as a simple yes or no reply, so I continued, "On a scale of one to ten, how many here would say they're a 10?"

"How about a 9?"

"An 8? Ok, that's good. We have one hand up here."

"How about a 7? We got 2 this time, that's a little better."

"A 6?"

"5?" Not a single other person had raised their hand yet...

"Ok, how about we stop there for now..."

Happiness is so incredibly elusive. Is it any surprise when as a race in general we've forgotten how to treat the cause and instead just endlessly treat the symptoms? I just read today how we're now implanting "pacemakers" in the brain to dispel depression and make people "happy." Why are using artificial methods to move from emotional lows to "normals" deemed acceptable while artificial methods to move from "normals" to highs is quite often illegal? Both fail to identify the cause of the person's situation and attempt to make things better by divorcing material effects from the actions that produce them. It is those actions which are the most essential aspect of the situation. Actions are how we form our characters and habituate our minds and bodies to various physical reactions. Our actions form both the psychological state and the chemically material emotive response to a greater degree than our current "medical" practices care to admit.

This is also how the pursuit of Truth leads to Happiness.

Happiness is the result of acting in accordance with the conclusions drawn from the painful process of refining our honesty into the objective Truth of our existence. If we are stuck in a false subjective "truth" and hide behind the scars we earned by becoming honest, then we will constantly have a "worm" in the back our brain that will need to be electrocuted by a "pacemaker" in order for us to find "happiness." We will live in an illusionary world where nothing is true, and everything needs to be embraced by quotes. The pursuit of Truth, however, is an action that gives our soul peace despite the pain of refinement. Pascal brilliantly saw the causes of certainty and peace. Truth alone brings certainty: the sincere quest for truth alone brings peace. (599/908) That quest is an action that brings peace. The object of that quest is Truth which brings certainty. The actions borne of those certain truths bring happiness.

Brave the fire of pursuit to extinguish the cause of your endless unrest.