Everyone wants happiness and doesn’t want suffering
May 5, 2008 · Print This Article
“Everyone wants happiness and doesn’t want suffering.”
I’m amused about the way profound thoughts can be so deceptively simple at first blush. As an executive coach and conflict consultant, I love the elegant simplicity.
Of course, I said to myself as I read Jeffrey Hopkins words, of course. Then I began to muse about the implications of his simple statement and the depths made themselves visible.
Buddhist scholar and author Jeffrey Hopkins served for a decade as chief interpreter for the Dalai Lama. He’s professor emeritus of Tibetan and Buddhist studies at the University of Virginia and his newest book, A Truthful Heart
Everyone wants happiness and doesn’t want suffering.
What interpersonal conflicts are you allowing to create suffering for you? And what will you do about it?
Hi Tammy - I feel this statement is true. I know I certainly like being happy.
But I’ll never forget something my college science professor once said:
He said, “Imagine that inside your kitchen closet is a bottle that says, ‘Happiness’. If you drink from the bottle you will be guaranteed happiness forever. Would you still drink from it?”
To my own surprise I hesitate. Why?
The only conclusion I reach is that the human condition must be about more than being happy all the time. Or maybe happiness must be earned? Mabye we cannot escape sorrow, just as we cannot escape rainy days.
Or maybe it’s just me! What do you think?
Mark - Creative Journey Cafes last blog post..If You Build It, They Will Come
Hi Mark,
happiness just as sorrow is part of life - isn’t it all about balancing opposite forces? If you never experience sorrow, will you know/feel/appreciate truly what happiness is? You might also ask yourself: if you never experienced happiness, could you then ‘appreciate’ sorrow as being part of life and live through it…
Looking at the recent disasters in f.i. Myanmar and China… quite a balancing act…
Hi, Mark - I’m with you on the idea that some suffering makes us appreciate happiness more. Yet I don’t think “happiness all the time” is what the author’s talking about. As I read it, I don’t see him making a case for that or suggesting it’s possible.
Robin, you’ve said it nicely! I do think the author isn’t contrasting happiness and sorrow as much as he’s talking about the reduction of suffering.
Thanks to both of you for commenting!