Happiness is often a shape-shifter – in your eyes, that is. Today, it may mean one thing to you; on another day, you just might perceive it as something else. Which is to say, what makes you happy now may not produce the same effect at another time. The priceless ornament which decorates your home today may be the tawdry trash you throw away tomorrow. Your concept of happiness changes with the shifts in your mood, temperament, preference, mindset, belief and outlook. In short, your own happiness is what you choose to call it.
You name happiness according to the altar before which you worship. There are three of those altars. One is dedicated to Wealth, another to Power, the third to Fame. Some light their incense on more than one altar. Many pay obeisance before all three.
Happiness is not any of those three. It sees wealth as greed, power as arrogance and fame as vanity. It laughs when you compare it to any or all of the three. Your prayers may be answered when you supplicate before the altars of Wealth, Power and Fame, but when that which you seek is yours, you find that the attainment of it doesn't quite bring you the joy you anticipate.
The one element that seldom accompanies wealth, power and fame is contentment. No matter how rich, powerful or famous you are, the desire for MORE is ever present. That yearning is a thirst that's never quenched. Of course the desire for more is essential for progress, for growth. But when the "more" feeds the vanity of the ego, it becomes a rash that is never assuaged, no matter how you scratch.
There is one more altar before which you can offer worship. It is in the Shrine of Wisdom. There is a lamp on that altar that never goes out. Its light forever beckons but not many approach. That lamp does not decorate but it illuminates.
If you draw near and pay your obeisance at the Altar of Wisdom, you hear the Voice. What it tells you is seldom music to your ears. Like medicine, it isn't pleasant, but it's what you need. Many walk away from the altar and leave the shrine for this reason. They prefer that which pleases rather than that which teaches.
