"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

I disagree.  The purpose of life is to be happy.  It may be that helping others - à la Mother Teresa - gives you happiness and, if so more power to you.  But are we to completely denigrate the poor soul who lives a productive life but gets his happiness from sitting in front of a fireplace and sips cognac?  Suppose that we all helped each other but all of us were unhappy.  Is that a satisfactory state of affairs?

 I think we can learn to associate happiness with a variety of activities.  The diversity of cultures and their activities offers proof.  We can learn to achieve happiness from working in a soup kitchen for the poor - or from wrestling alligators.  If you're happy you will do better at whatever activity you indulge in.

In religious terms, salvation doesn't come just because we're unhappy.

© 2014 Lester Welch