“Happiness has a number of under-studies, – gratification, satisfaction, content, and pleasure, – clever imitators that simulate its appearance rather than emulate its method. Gratification is a harmony between our desires and our possessions. It is ever incomplete, it is the thankful acceptance of part. It is a mental pleasure in the quality of what one receives, an unsatisfiedness as to the quantity. It may be an element in happiness, but, in itself, – it is not happiness.”
Life for too many is a process of gradual settling and compromise over time rather than an ongoing expansion of capability, vision and happiness. This comes as a result of limiting factors, some of them real, some imagined. Rather than commiserate with you on the limitations that are more often than not unavoidable, my concern today is with those elements of consciousness that place artificial, man-made limits on expectation and thus experience so that you might be freed to live life more happily and abundantly.
Happiness is a state of being that courses well beneath the turbulent and troubled waters of circumstance. Happiness’ more transient understudies are worthy of note and great when they appear, but to cling to them is an act of foolish desperation, for they are inherently fleeting. True happiness, in this sense, is always available, yet never the same in texture or feeling. Its combinations are infinite and its flow is eternal.
“Satisfaction is perfect identity of our desires and our possessions. It exists only so long as this perfect union and unity can be preserved. But every realized ideal gives birth to new ideals, every step in advance reveals large domains of the unattained; every feeding stimulates new appetites, – then the desires and possessions are no longer identical, no longer equal; new cravings call forth new activities, the equipoise is destroyed, and dissatisfaction reënters. Man might possess everything tangible in the world and yet not be happy, for happiness is the satisfying of the soul, not of the mind or the body. Dissatisfaction, in its highest sense, is the keynote of all advance, the evidence of new aspirations, the guarantee of the progressive revelation of new possibilities.“
Gregory Hake 
I love the title of these posts! The royal road to happiness is much simpler, nobler and foundational than we’ve been perhaps taught or led to believe. Thank you always raising the bar in this blog and offering the challenge to raise the bar in our own lives as well.
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It is foundational. The rest doesn’t matter if we don’t get this straight.
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I appreciate the bits of gold within this post, as to grasp this is to understand that there is an ebb and flow in the experience of life. Dissatisfaction being a point of change and growth, a cue to renewed vision.Each time I read this post, as with most of them, I am able to find new levels of understanding.Happiness is not dependent on our physical haves or have nots, though it is easy to mistake it’s parts for the whole. I appreciate so much the efforts you make for others to consider deeply the opportunity that lies within them to live a life uncommon. One filled with experiences some good, some challengeing, yet embued with happiness at all times. It is up to us to tap into the flow, ever changing. I have found this calm beneath the storm to be my refuge,”happiness” it is real and readily available. Thank you.
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Dissatisfaction isn’t all that bad after all! So often people try to design their lives around avoiding dissatisfaction and discomfort, yet both are incredibly valuable when seen in the right perspective. If you are prone to judge your life based on “snapshots” you will likely overrate the good times and undervalue the more challenging, pressured times. Both must be maximized to ensure daily progress.
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The post this morning is substantial food for meditation and new beginnings. The patterns of thought, feeling and rationale surrounding the topic of happiness have been tangled, contradictory and convoluted, leading to a sense of hopelessness regarding real fulfillment. Your words and the words you quote begin to separate the strands, cleaning them up so that they can be seen for what they are and what they aren’t. Ultimately, of course, the strands do belong together, but in very different arrangements of priority and functional design.
A clear and honest pattern of meditation is always a vital starting point. In this case, we recognize how central the matter of happiness is. Still, as long as the distinctions in this field remain blurred and tangled, there are no clear starting points for understanding and no basis for successful meditation or action. These clear and practical starting points are gold indeed!
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This post and the comments are so fascinating. Happiness is usually viewed at such a surface level. There are so many layers available to be experienced. The idea of getting what you want then you’ll be happy is such a paltry desire. It is understandable why comments like Bismarks’ are probably true. We’ve had a paradigm that is not only impossible but also inferior to the rich design of happiness that is actually available. It brings to mind the line from the play “Auntie Mame”, “life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.”
This post today was a main course, thanks!
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I like that: “rich design of happiness.” Thanks for sharing!
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Reading/understanding this, to remain satisfied and content is the kiss of death! Nothing wrong with satisfaction, for to take pleasure in a job well done is part of the reward of doing a good job, but it seems as soon as that feeling comes we should begin to let it go. These ‘clever imitators’ (luv it!) indeed can produce narcotic effects, for these feelings stimulate our somatic centers quite vigorously, and it would appear to be best to hold them with respect and simply be thankful for their arrival. Any attempt to crystallize these ‘understudies’ puts us on a slippery slope of misplaced focus and true happiness will ever elude its rightful benefactor – all of us! Happiness is our birthright I truly feel, but the mechanics of it have to be right – the balanced function of our minds and bodies.
As we let go of these temporal appearances, we are free to move on to bigger and better things. I feel to take pride in something well done is honorable, but if you start becoming smug you’ ve crossed the line. Great stuff here that merits greater thought!
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Seeing all matters in context is vitally important to a well-lived life. When a quality, like contentment, is given more weight than it inherently deserves, or seen as a constant rather than a momentary manifestation, you are likely to end up feeling like the good things in life are constantly being taken away from you. Not a good place to exist…
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These understudies that Jordan speaks of absolutely do not have to be present for happiness to occur. I am actually not sure if you can achieve all of these things all of the time, even in a perfect world. As Jordan notes, things like dissatisfaction drive progress, and progress is something that will always be with us. So without thinking about whether a lack of satisfaction is good or bad, it is an impetus that drives change.
I think that all of these “understudies” will naturally fade in and fade out, increasing and decreasing their prominence in our consciousness. Just as our soul’s happiness will change its texture over time. However, I think it is important to differentiate between the natural change of things and a discontent or dissatisfaction because we are not living our lives to their fullest potential.
Each of us knows what our “current” potential is. I put current in parenthesis because as we progress we might find that what we think our potential is is only a shadow of what we are capable of. Yet there are steps that we can all take right now.
Do not let the artificial limitations allow you to settle for less than you are capable of. Let the natural dissatisfaction drive your progress. There is always a next step, and if you take one at a time, you will remain in a balance that allows your soul’s natural happiness to remain thriving and potent.
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Good morning, Colin! I like the point you make that “it is important to differentiate between the natural change of things and a discontent or dissatisfaction because we are not living our lives to their fullest potential.” Fulfillment hangs in the balance. Onward and upward…!
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Profound perspective you both have. I found his use of the word “dissatisfaction” needed some further consideration because my initial impression in the use of that word (and this could be just me) is a sense of disapproval, or aversion, which on the face of it doesn’t make the process of being dissatisfied sound very fun. But when thinking of the state one rightly should be dissatisfied with, thank goodness for the ability to feel aversion or repulsion. Thinking of it in terms of restlessness with the unnatural state of complacency, and a desire to apply one’s life energy ever-increasingly to worthwhile endeavors and growth does sound very enjoyable and exciting. Being plugged into that process and actualizing it, seeing it through thick and thin, is the root of happiness in my experience. Thank goodness to know that there is another direction to move in besides re-creating the surface feelings associated with happiness. Great food for thought this morning!
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It’s interesting to me that you could be at once content with how things are at the moment yet dissatisfied in a larger sense, yearning for a greater revelation of what you know to be possible. Dissatisfaction compels action and growth while inviting you to move beyond the borders of present limitations.
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THANK YOU for not commiserating on limitations in the world! I can find that almost anywhere I look. I appreciate the unique, refreshing and inspiring posts I can always find here. Thanks for the daily good news!
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Any time…!
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