Image by Alaskan Dude via Flickr
A couple of days ago, in blog-post What Must I Do To Be Happy, we asked the question,
Do you see happiness as something that reflects your condition of spirituality and/or your condition of brain health?
This is not a question we hear every day.
The relationship of happiness and spirituality is heavily weighted in our cultural awareness. We hear about it all the time. “They are connected,” is a reasonable statement.
The separateness of happiness and spirituality is culturally quiet. How often do we think that happiness is about brain health and not our spiritual condition? It may not be reasonable, culturally common or comfortable, but it is still true; they are separate.
Lola Snookers answered our question saying,
No, I do not see happiness and spirituality going hand in hand. Having faith does help me be stronger but no it doesn’t pull me out of sadness. I can be grateful and depressed at the same time. …to say having a closer connection to God will make you happy is crazy. It helps me hang on and push though, it blesses my heart & maybe someday I will look back think how happy I was to have Him in my life (and I am.) However, for me it doesn’t in itself make me happy.
Lola is telling us that happiness and spirituality are related and separate. There is no reason they can’t be both …except for how we reason. For example, I think of Father-Time who left office when the forth-dimension came into discussion. Our reasoning changed and told us that Time is not what we thought.
There is great freedom in the understanding that emotions such as happiness are not always chosen. There is great freedom knowing more about how we intersect with the seen and unseen forces. Freedom in knowing how we connect seems paradoxical doesn’t it? But it isn’t.
We’ve talked about how everything is connected and that knowledge is flat. That includes happiness and spirituality. However, we have also spoken about taking things apart to know their natures better. Knowing how they are separate is knowing how they connect.
I read 11/11/10 post. “knowledge is flat”. I can’t seem to picture it that way. It is so multidimensional with infinite compartments and pathways. Picture
Egyptian painting and bas relief. One dimensional people in a one dimensional world. That is not real.
flat does sound unidimensional. gah! as lola snookers would say :).
WOW! Now that sure is something to think about. I know a heck of a lot of pretty miserable Christians. And some whoop-happy atheists…
to get a wow from your wizened and well-read eyes means heaps. thanks cin.
Your mind works beyond mine 🙂 I can’t seem to think after seeing my name & words up in the big lights 😉 Oh, and those who are close to me get tired of contradictory thoughts very quickly 😀
laughing
thanks for letting me grab onto your skirts
I think they are separate but related…kind of like contentment is as well. To me contentment has been reached by finding that spirituality deep inside that surpasses “religion”…knowing yourself on an intimate level. However, I don’t think that peace and happiness are the same though I feel one must have peace to be truly happy. Have I confused you?
my confusion is more constant, i’m afraid to say, than my emotions 🙂
Interestingly enough the theme of your post is very much along the same line as many others!
As far as the “happiness and spirituality” connection goes, I see “happiness” and “joy” as two separate things.
For me, “joy” is a constant that comes through faith, and therefore is directly related to “spirituality.” In the midst of grief and sadness and depression, I still am aware that I have joy inside me that can never be taken away. “Happiness” is, however, a transient thing, that comes and goes according to your present circumstances.
“Happiness” is a CHOICE. It is a choice that is easier to make when not in a depression cycle, but in any event, “happiness” is ALWAYS a choice. No person or thing can make you happy. It requires a personal decision to simply be happy! The more you depend on other people or other things to make you happy, the less happy you are or will be.
” Happiness” and “Joy” both dwell within, but one comes by way of your own volition, and “joy” is something you accept and keep when a commitment to your faith has been made, and it is forever present.
sincere paula, thank u for commenting and connecting w us. i can see your thread, “’joy’ is a constant that comes through faith, and therefore is directly related to ‘spirituality.'” that connection to spirituality is beautiful. thank God for His constancy. keep on.
I like this one, Sana. There’s a lot here to think about! There’s a lot I’ve never thought of thinking about! When I was severely emotionally ill, the ONLY thing I did, other than go to therapy or spend time in the hospital, was work on my spiritual health. I thought that made me happy. Unfortunately, what was making me happy was seeing how my “work” impressed my pastoral counselor…onto whom I had transferred. Understanding that, when I finally did, was devastating. However, as I have rebuilt (re-strengthened?) my spiritual health, I have found that my emotional health has improved almost exponentially…and that has led to a different kind of happiness, which, as you mention, is freeing because it is not always chosen. That being said, then, the idea that “knowing how they are separate is knowing how they are connected” makes perfect sense to me. I would never have thought………….!! Thanks!
thank u nancy! u said this so well and i feel great knowing about this resonance. thanks for letting us know. keep on.
For me is easy to say that happiness can be found in the brain because I am an atheist. The thought of spirituality being involved is preposterous is like comparing an apple with a rock. I believe in good and evil because I have seen myself gone from one end to the other.
i hear u LV, an atheist who believes in good and evil. i’m sure u’ve seen so much. tell us some?
I don’t think happiness is a spiritual thing, it comes and goes, a lot being dependent on others and circumstances. Joy, to me, is a spiritual thing that is not dependent on others or circumstances. I can be unhappy and still have joy because joy is a gift from God. It is part of who I am not something outside of myself.
i can get into this patricia. thank u.