NOTE: This is one of those A-HA's for me that has the potential to be a pillar of my values and transformational in how I think and feel and understand the world. I hope it sparks many thoughts for you as well. Instead of writing about it in a very long conversation - I will try to break it out into various conversations over the coming week.
Our founding fathers were so very inspired and wise...
In the Declaration of Independence they specifically declare the
PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
as a RIGHT of man.
I have read to better understand what they meant, and everyone seems to concur that they were not referring to simple and superficial "happiness" as an emotion...
They were specific - our right is not necessarily to happiness - but to the PURSUIT of happiness... to have the freedom to PURSUE it... and it was up to all of us to figure out how to achieve it for ourselves.
Most scholars speak of "happiness" in the Declaration of Independence defining it "not just as a simple subjective emotional state" but as,
"prosperity; well-being in the broader sense."
"Includes the right to meet physical needs, but also includes a significant religious and moral dimension."
"includes a right to material things, but it goes beyond that to include humanity’s spiritual and moral condition"
"every necessary moral ingredient"...
"requires religion, morality and knowledge."
"VIRTUOUS FELICITY, as in the Greek eudaimonia"
The PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS...
the pursuit of JOY...
the pursuit of VIRTUOUS FELICITY...
is at the heart and at the base of all that we dream about and thus all that we feel and all that we do...
I have read and said those words on so many occasion, but I have never fully stopped to consider the wisdom in our founding fathers specifically and deliberately calling it out...
I am, however, focussed less on the pursuit of JOY as a RIGHT...
I am more focussed on the pursuit of JOY as an absolute TRUTH ...
in who we are
as human beings.
How does our desire for a life of JOY affect our lives? Every aspect of our lives?
How does it benefit from us achieving a clearer purpose or meaning?
How does it show up in our relationship with our spouse and children?
How does it show up in our relationship with ourselves?
How does it impact our feelings everyday at our place of work?
Think about it.
How does the fact you deeply and inately seek "joy" impact YOU?
Do you agree you seek it?
let's explore it together...
I think it could help us understand just about everything...
about harmony
and disharmony...
in it joyfully ;-)
Nestor