IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

Everybody seeks happiness. It can well be said that happiness is the ultimate goal, for every individual, who has set foot in this world.
The reason why we do all the things that we do, go to school, get employed, start business of whatever kind or do anything that we do to make money, is in pursuit of happiness. We do all these things in order to quench the  ingratiating thirst for happiness.
Happiness can equally be said to be the most elusive princess yet most satisfying to court, making the thirst in the lack of its achievement as great as the desire to acquire it.
As the whole world gears towards this noble course of searching for this elusive but beautiful princess or prince charming, for that matter, we find ourselves caught up in a web that blinds us to the real  goal in our life.
We long for riches thinking that this is what would give us the supreme and lasting happiness but are dissapointed when we acquire it, for we then find that the vacuum is still there in our hearts. This is when you see the rich and the celebraties going for hard drugs, and all sorts of vices. Am not saying that money is not good. On the contrary, I love money and know that it helps you to gratify many desires and whim.
It is not, however until we have attained all levels of gratification that we realize that we still suffer from repletion and ennui and that we are still far, far away from possessing the elusive princess.
So what does this tell us, but that happiness is not achieved from outward material wealth, or the lack of it. If otherwise was the case, the rich would be very happy while the poor would equally be very miserable, but in many cases than not, we find the opposite to be the case.
So, what is happiness, what does it attain to, is it a pigmentation of the mind or is it a delusion and is suffering alone perennial?
The lack of attainment of happiness in the acquirement  of material wealth, as demonstrated in those men who have accumulated riches, only to confess that the selfish gratification, which followed the acquisition of those riches, has in fact robbed life of its sweetness and joy, is a clear demonstration that happiness cannot be derived from outward material wealth.
 So how do we define happiness then and how can we attain it? Where can we find it?
Is happiness not that inward state of perfect satisfaction which gives us perfect joy?
In the poem that I previously posted on this wall of abounding happiness by James Allen, we found that the writer had sought  and followed happiness all over, but he found out that the more he pursued this princess of indescribable beauty and excellent satisfaction, the more happiness eluded him, until he gave up and did some noble things and lo and behold, sweet Happiness, with form divine, stood by him, whispering softly, "I am thine."
 A deeper analysis of the definition of happiness as given above, points us back within us. It directs us to our inner selves, into the center of our hearts. As we search deeper within our selves, we find that happiness originates and can only be found within us. It can then be equated with the seat of heaven for our souls, our hearts. It will be found to be true, upon a deeper reflection, that happiness can only be found by making others happy and as you loose yourself in the service of others, in the same measure will happiness come to you.
When you have achieved true happiness, in the measure you help others, you will have come to the true religion. You will have found the true heaven, which is within you as much as hell is within you. This is so in that heaven is that joy divine that is so deep seated and that is only found in giving and not being given and in loving and not being loved; for as you give, from the bottom of your heart, so is your inner soul fed and this is what gives you true joy and true happiness.