You Only Need To Find One Answer in Life
It's a big question
The other day I was wondering if the goal of life is just to be happy.
Let’s stick to that hypothesis for a while.
Shall we? Let’s go.
If you’re so smart, why aren’t you happy? - Naval Ravikant
Naval makes a good point. But if the goal of life is to be happy, then can it be permanently achieved?
A goal is supposed to be chased. Chased consistently. Can you chase happiness consistently?
I don’t think so.
You can’t have every cell in your body bursting with ecstasy 24/7. Our bodies are just not made like that. And by extension, even our world isn't made like that.
Our bodies and this world will constantly go through different moods, thoughts, emotions, situations, circumstances, and many more changes. Heck, our body doesn't even remain the same. A cell is dying and a new cell is being reborn every second.
I love Heraclitus for saying this when I’m going through a bad time. Couldn’t have been more thankful for the fact that there’s a dawn after the darkest night. (Batman fans, you’ll get it.)
But I truly hate him when good things come to an end. Like when Sir Alex Ferguson retired and Manchester United tragically fell off. When Marvel’s Infinity Saga ended. When summers are over, and I can’t gulp mango shakes anymore. In these moments, I truly hate you, Heraclitus.
But no matter how much I unnecessarily despise it in these times, the bronze statue speaks the truth.
We saw this during the pandemic. Employees who gave decades of loyalty to a company were laid off with a single automated email. Businesses that were going strong, were completely shut down. People had to switch careers, families slid down the economic ladder.
But the law of change ensued, and the pandemic also came to an end.
These constant changes make our lives overwhelming. Changes, that are both good and bad. Uncertainty is the theme of the day, every day. Adaptation is the KPI we are subject to in life.
In such a life, you possibly can’t be happy for more than a period. Even then, you are constantly negotiating with your mind.
During tough times, we have to sit with sadness and grief. We have to sit with the feeling of dejection. Not get lost in them, but just sit. For a while.
Sitting in a mental park surrounded by terrible feelings, and lending them an ear without getting carried away is introspection. It is out of this that we can reflect.
If we make happiness the goal of our lives, we will distract ourselves from this. We’ll run away from anything that is a not-happy state of being. Even though we occupy that state of being for a vast period of our lives. We can’t keep running for that long, and also lose introspection for the sake of it.
Hence, I don’t see the hypothesis working very well for me. Let’s chuck it aside.
But this deliberation has left me with one big question:
How are you going to be in the face of all these constant changes?
This is the single question you have to find the answer to, in this life. This answer will determine your experience of life.
It's not your finances, your net income, your relationship status, or your achievements. All of that will change.
There will be good times AND bad times. Even in your good times, you’ll compare, get jealous, become anxious and your happiness will shoo off in a flash. Even in bad times, a silly joke might make you chuckle and give you a moment’s respite.
At the end of the day, how you deal with these opposites of nature that wreak havoc in equal amounts, is the only thing that matters.
As I search for this one answer, I find one in the Bhagavad Gita:
“[…] The person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.” - BG 2.15
This answer demands a sense of equal-mindedness and equanimity. One that many sages have taken to heart.
Is sage-like wisdom the cure?
Maybe there can be many answers to this question. Maybe there is only one.
But we do need to find our own answer.
And maybe just that single answer will guide us through this thing called change. That swings us like a freaking pendulum, by the way.
So, tell me…
What will your answer be?
- Until next time!
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I would say that the goal of life is to learn that you can be happy at any moment you choose - because you are the creator of your reality
Great piece, Yashraj! My way to approach the inevitable changes in life is to NEVER STOP LEARNING. Even if it is the busiest day ever, I must make time to learn something new.