The Pursuit of Happiness Part 1

What is life, but the pursuit of happiness, really?

I had a long talk with my boss last week, about the things one faces in life, about his dreams for life, the experience in his relationship with his (soon to be ex) wife, and the realisations from the soul-searching he had from experiencing his divorce.

Some things he said to me during this really stood out.

He said that people who have not found their 'self', often seek attributes in others that they themselves lack, in the hope that that person can make up or somehow transfer it to them. In some cases, the balance of temperaments and the exchange of self from both parties do not come into conflict, but very often people are blinded to the obvious until it reaches a critical point.

The conversation itself is too lengthy and details unnecessary to bear repeating, but I make my observations and lessons I learned from it.

I spent quite abit of time divining the crux of this conversation, as usual falling back into introspective mode for several days through the weekend.

To wit, the foundation of a man is not in the material possessions he owns, nor in the people around him, not even in his wealth. Material possessions can be taken away, the people can distance themselves and disconnect, and wealth can dissapear in the blink of an eye.

It is in his values where he finds the bedrock of his psyche, of his self. A man without values builds upon pillars of sand; everything will come crashing down the moment something kicks them in.

A man who has a strong core of values, a solid foundation of principles, and an unwavering sense of self will pull through through sheer force of will.
Unfortunately, the society we live in today puts many distractions and manufactured stumbling blocks to make it that much more difficult to achieve.

The mass media churns out aural and visual stimuli to distract our minds and create artificial value in things, the concept of credit and debt keeps us working to pay off what is essentially an intangible idea, consumerism keeps the ball and chain of credit and debt locked securely around our feet.

“To be truly rich, regardless of his fortune or lack of it, a man must live by his own values. If those values are not personally meaningful, then no amount of money gained can hide the emptiness of life without them.” - John Paul Getty, How to Be Rich (1961)

"When you run in debt; you give to another power over your liberty." - Benjamin Franklin