“I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.
And because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”

Edward Everett Hale

Saturday 25 May 2019

A Travelling Companion

This week's photo is of three wheeled huts, parked on a beach. The text, by Margaret Lee Runbeck, says, "Glück ist keine Station, bei der man ankommt, sondern eine Art zu reisen."


Which being translated, means "Happiness is not a station to arrive at, but a way to travel."

The American Declaration of Independence speaks of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" as "certain unalienable rights" with which all of humankind is endowed. I agree that all humankind has the right to life and the right to liberty, but I'm not so sure about "the pursuit of happiness".

Because I believe that happiness should not be not the goal of our lives, but a way of being in the world, which makes our journey through life easier. I think that pursuing happiness might actually lead to not being happy, where we are at the present moment. If we fall into the "if only" trap, we can actually be postponing the possibility of happiness.

For example, "I'll be happy, if only I could lose ten pounds." "I'll be happy, if I get a promotion at work." "I'll be happy, if only ... [fill in the blanks yourself]".

The knack is to find ways of being happy where we are, right now. Stanley A. Mellor, Unitarian minister at Hope Street Church in Liverpool during World War One, delivered a series of addresses which were published under the title The Last Victory: Studies in Religious Optimism. I was given this book as a gift a few years ago, and it touched me profoundly.

Mellor explains: "Their purpose was... to remind people again of the conditions under which glowing faith must always furnish its warmth in a finite world, to face certain fundamental perplexities in the light of faith, and to provide encouragement and hope. The responsibility of surviving into the world of peace after war... must press heavily on every sensitive spirit, and the need for radiant constructive faith in the ultimate goodness and worth of life is very great, and will become greater."

The whole book is a paean of hope, of "radiant constructive faith in the ultimate goodness and worth of life." I have blogged about it here and would like to repeat one further quote from that post:

"The part of The Last Victory which has brought the most enlightenment is where Mellors insists that 'Optimism is not a scientific certainty, no true optimist ever said it was. It is an affirmation of the spirit, a risk accepted by the soul... Call it what you will, belief in the unseen world, belief in the reality of the Ideal, faith in the solidarity and eternal value of goodness... the certainty remains that without it Humanity cannot go forward, and without we ourselves can do no good and worthy work in the world.'

Happiness is a way to travel, not a distant goal to be pursued.











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