Are People Happy?

A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with a relative who lives in a small town. She was talking about what a problem drugs are there and it sounded like people had turned to drugs not only to ease pain (both physical and emotional) but also maybe out of boredom?

Hearing news stories filled with anger and violence erupting over tiny slights and how common depression is, it seems like a lot of people are struggling to find a sense of purpose in life.

That’s one thing that religion in general is very good at: providing a clear goal.

I think having a sense of purpose is one of the keys to happiness, whether that’s a purpose that your religion lays out for you or one that comes from within. I feel like that goes along with even the most basic needs as it gives us a reason to be alive, a reason to fight to get food, shelter, etc.

Many of us have every reason to be happy. We know that there are people struggling in this world but we’ve got our basic needs covered and yet stress and economic pressure keeps us feeling down. I should be in bliss every moment of every day. Believing, as I do, that the world around me is a game to be enjoyed, there’s no  reason for me to be down.

What is it that keeps people from happiness?

Is it just that it’s the Kali Yuga? Is there something more to it?

This may sound strange, but it reminds me of the computer game The Sims. It’s a game designed to feel like real life and it does a good job, I think. You have a character or a family and you start out with a house and a little bit of money but you need to find a job so you can get enough money to stock your fridge and eventually upgrade your bed so you’re sleeping better and buying a trash can. That kind of thing. The game draws you in when you haven’t got a lot of money yet and you’ve got to make everything work with that limited resource.

But eventually you build your skills, get promoted at work, and start raking in cash. At some point you can buy anything in the game, move to a huge house, have whatever you want and it doesn’t feel that great. For me that’s when my interest in the game drifts away. I no longer have something to strive towards. I can’t even think of what goal I can create to work towards.

Is that happening in real life too? While I’m not well off enough to be able to just buy whatever I want, I do sometimes feel like underneath my goals of paying off a house and having children that there’s nothing behind it. Like there’s no support system underneath it all and that I need to keep coming up with these sorts of goals because if I ever stop I’ll find emptiness.

And I fear that emptiness quite a lot.

Yet the “rat race”, the striving to build enough money to be in that position of not having to strive, is a distraction from the real purpose in life. I think behind all those goals is not nothingness but the most challenging task of all and one that the ego and subconscious tries to ignore, throwing these distractions in the way.

Fully seeing the universe as God and merging into that is the most challenging thing there could ever be. For me I think when we peel away the superficial goals in life, that is the one that remains.

And yet even believing that, there is still fear within me.

What do you think? What is it within maya that stands in the way of happiness?