Guiding Light: Fun, pleasure and happiness

These three words seem to govern our life in more ways than one. All of us are looking for happiness. At the same time, we mistake it for what it is not. Look at the people today, especially the youngster who is mistaking happiness for fun and pleasure. Pleasure is shortlived. Like, eating your favorite food or having a cup of coffee which can be a pleasurable experience. It lasts only a few minutes. Fun can be a great party where everyone can let their hair down and do whatever people think that, gives them fun. Happiness will be more lasting, like in building deep relationships, nurturing and bringing up children, the satisfaction of building up your career, pursuit of hobbies over the long term. All these require effort and the results are satisfying.

However, very often one mistakes pleasure and fun for happiness. So, one goes on this mad rush of pleasurable activities, full of fun, alcohol, drugs, partying, acquiring possessions, fleeting relationships, all these in the mistaken notion that one would be happy with it. Pursuits of more long lasting happiness are dismissed as old-fashioned and boring. Maybe the older generation got something right. It is not that they did not know how to have fun or enjoy pleasurable activities.

One also needs to work on what will give you more lasting happiness like a career than just earning some money, building up financial independence, creating wealth rather than just making some money, not just working but building up a career, not a fleeting relationship but good, solid relationships with love and respect. This perspective and hence related activities will give us greater satisfaction rather than the fleeting pursuit of fun and pleasure. Of course, all of us need some amount of fun and pleasure that can be had along with the seeking of happiness. For true lasting happiness, one has to enter the spiritual realm of studies.

The writer is the founder of Aarsha Vidya Foundation. You can write to him at aarshavidyaf@gmail.com