A. Secular happiness is to possess, or be near what we want, or like and to discard, or be away from what we don’t want, or what we hate. For example, we want to have health but want to discard, or be away from illness. We want to be with the people we love and like, but want to be away those whom we hate, or dislike. All that we human beings do all our lives is to try to obtain, or achieve what we want and throw away, or avoid what we dislike. When we succeed in achieving what we love, or avoiding what we hate, we feel happy. When we fail to do this, we feel unhappy, sad, or even frustrated.
In brief, secular happiness depends on whether or not we can get what we want and avoid what we hate.
Buddhist happiness is to realise that everything that we have chased, or have run away from is not real, but merely illusionary images created by us, and to enjoy it just as we enjoy movies which are sometimes sad and sometimes happy. In summary, the Buddhist perspective on happiness depends on whether or not we can see things as they are without being deluded by illusions.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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