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What would you give . . . what would you forsake to be happy? Many ancient Greek philosophers thought that this pursuit was the motivating factor in life.
I’ve heard Christians differentiate the terms happiness and joy. To split definitional hairs, it seems that happiness is determined or affected by circumstances or happenstance. The root hap means chance or fortune. In contrast, it’s been suggested, joy is an internal quality that is unencumbered and unimpeded by the situations in which we find ourselves.
I think there may be some truth to that. Still, possessing this joy and experiencing it consistently seems challenging. I know there is a place in Christ from which this joy flows; I’ve experienced it at various times in my life. It would appear, then, that joy should be the preferred pursuit over happiness. But is joy something that you pursue, or is it something that is simply received and experienced by resting in Christ?
Maybe I’m waxing philosophical because I so often feel so little joy these days? If joy is not pursuable, then I guess my quest is for happiness – at least until joy manifests itself. Am I compromising and settling by taking this tack? I don’t know. Probably.
What is disconcerting is that, if my sense of contentment (yet another semantic conundrum?) is merely a condition of my circumstances or environment, I risk a lot of angst and sadness. Is something so transient worth the risk? How much should I invest in such a fugacious state of being?
I suppose the ancient Greeks had inextricably linked fate with happiness so that, despite the deterministic fatalism, there was a sense of comfort in the notion that happiness was not really so haphazard. This seems contradictory to me, but it does give the illusion of comfort – unless, of course, you were fated to tragedy.
I feel like I am willing to give a lot for happiness, although I’m not sure how much I have to give. I am also willing to forsake a lot of things for this experience, but I wonder how much this will be appreciated.
The absence of joy and happiness provides quite an impetus to pursue something other than your current condition. I am not sure that this is the motivating factor in life, but it is certainly a motivating element. But is this propellant destined for disaster and multiplied despair?
I’ve heard Christians differentiate the terms happiness and joy. To split definitional hairs, it seems that happiness is determined or affected by circumstances or happenstance. The root hap means chance or fortune. In contrast, it’s been suggested, joy is an internal quality that is unencumbered and unimpeded by the situations in which we find ourselves.
I think there may be some truth to that. Still, possessing this joy and experiencing it consistently seems challenging. I know there is a place in Christ from which this joy flows; I’ve experienced it at various times in my life. It would appear, then, that joy should be the preferred pursuit over happiness. But is joy something that you pursue, or is it something that is simply received and experienced by resting in Christ?
Maybe I’m waxing philosophical because I so often feel so little joy these days? If joy is not pursuable, then I guess my quest is for happiness – at least until joy manifests itself. Am I compromising and settling by taking this tack? I don’t know. Probably.
What is disconcerting is that, if my sense of contentment (yet another semantic conundrum?) is merely a condition of my circumstances or environment, I risk a lot of angst and sadness. Is something so transient worth the risk? How much should I invest in such a fugacious state of being?
I suppose the ancient Greeks had inextricably linked fate with happiness so that, despite the deterministic fatalism, there was a sense of comfort in the notion that happiness was not really so haphazard. This seems contradictory to me, but it does give the illusion of comfort – unless, of course, you were fated to tragedy.
I feel like I am willing to give a lot for happiness, although I’m not sure how much I have to give. I am also willing to forsake a lot of things for this experience, but I wonder how much this will be appreciated.
The absence of joy and happiness provides quite an impetus to pursue something other than your current condition. I am not sure that this is the motivating factor in life, but it is certainly a motivating element. But is this propellant destined for disaster and multiplied despair?
