Is it not so simple as saying that whatever it is we seek, our ultimate goal is to be happy?
Do we not, as humans, seek happiness with every choice we make in every day of our life?
The truth is that no matter what answer one may give to the question of what one wishes to procure from life, their answer will merely be a declaration of what makes him or her happy. And yet, this being a nearly incontrovertable truth, there seems to lack something of practical actualization of this truth. For, how many hundreds of millions of people pursue happiness every day of their life only to be left unfulfilled ultimately?
- Why in a free country such as America can one do what makes him happy day or night and yet be left feeling that their life is unfulfilled?
This is likely the case with all of humankind.
The answer to the previous question is that the necessary epiphany of life is that one needs not to seek fulfillment, but rather, that which needs to be fulfilled.
In reality, a rational person will concede that happiness is what he or she wants, but the verity of the matter is that what people truly want out of life is satisfaction. This is similar to happiness but quite distinct.
- Happiness is short, satisfaction is long.
- Happiness is an emotion, satisfaction is a state of being.
- One can be unhappy temporarily while still satisfied with life in general.
All manner of satisfaction is derived from denial of immediate pleasures.
Satisfaction is what humans truly want out of life, irrespective of whether or not they are cognizant of it.