Pursuit of Happiness

America just held its presidential election. Time to have a closer look into the Preamble to the United States' Declaration of Independence, as the US government is seen as the oldest running democracy in the world, and this is one of its founding documents:

"We hold this truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The here mentioned pursuit if happiness seems to be inherent to every human being. Who does not want to be happy? But is this after all the meaning of life, to pursue happiness? When we look at the ways people try to achieve happiness, we find that they are quite different. Even in our own lives, what happiness means at a certain time can be totally different from our perspective a decade later: When I was a teenager, I enjoyed watching football games the most. In my twenties it was all about traveling. In my thirties it was my artwork. So, our interests are changing over time and, therefore, also our understanding of how to achieve happiness. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the fact that our interests and hobbies change. Yet, it shows that happiness itself is quite an unstable foundation to build our lives upon. Not only do our views of what happiness is change from time to time, but, further, the inevitable storms of life rob us temporarily of happiness. 

An eternal perspective that goes beyond the ups and downs of life helps us to endure these hardships. Otherwise, one might just want to drop out of life when all happiness is gone - as current high suicide rates show. In contrast - having an expectancy of resurrection after death puts the pursuit of happiness here on earth in the right place: Not as something to draw the meaning of life from but to accept both, good and bad times as part of life by trying to fulfill the calling the Creator has given us.