We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same. -Anne Frank
Have you ever dreamed that you were desperately searching for something? When I have dreams like this, the longing to find the lost object lingers long after I wake up. The sense of loss remains even though I tell myself that I’m not actually missing anything. It was just a dream – wasn’t it? Real life can be a lot like that. I think that all of us have this inexplicable desire to keep searching for something better, something more. I’m not saying that I spend every waking moment thinking about this, because most of the time my mind is preoccupied with whatever I happen to be doing at the moment. No this desire seems to exist primarily in my soul, just below my conscious thoughts, but always ready to surface, whether I summon it or not. What is this desire that haunts me? What am I looking for?
Thomas Aquinas, the great medieval Theologian and Philosopher, had much to say on this subject. First, he explained that by our nature we desire happiness. In other words, the longing for happiness is built into us by our Creator. It’s part of being human. We don’t choose to seek happiness; we seek it out of necessity. Thomas also had a theory regarding what would satisfy our craving for happiness. He called it the Supreme Good and described it “as the one good that contains all others”. According to Thomas, you and I were created to possess this Supreme Good and nothing else will ever make us happy. The current culture disagrees with Thomas. It tells me that if I have lots of goods – a slim figure, clear skin, straight teeth, nice wardrobe, good friends, rewarding job, interesting hobbies, leisure time, health, and so on – then I will be truly happy. But you and I both know that we’ll never have all these things and that in a finite world they actually compete with one another for our time and attention. Personally, I think that Thomas’ theory makes a lot more sense and besides we have the rich, famous, beautiful, but very unhappy people that grace the cover of magazines (and Yahoo’s home page) as evidence against the current idea.
As a believer (Thomas was too; he’s known by us Catholics as St. Thomas) it’s easy for me to make the leap of Faith from the abstract concept of a Supreme Good to a personal Supreme Being. The Supreme Good can only be found in the One who is the source of all goodness. We attain the Supreme Good (and thus happiness!) when we choose God and God alone. Now to me that sounds really hard to do. It might be remotely possible while I’m on a retreat or doing mission work. But what about when I return home and real life happens again? How will I focus on God through all the distractions and amidst the influence of a culture that’s constantly telling me that happiness can be found everywhere but in Him?
A while back I was listening to a sermon on this topic and the priest said, “Bring God to the grocery store with you”. All of a sudden the light bulb went on! So that’s what I need to do. I need to bring God with me to the movies, to sleep-overs, to babysitting jobs, to school, to work, to everywhere I go. When I allow Him to come with me, everything changes. I want to be the best I can be, because He is with me. I don’t want to gossip about that girl who gets on my nerves, because I know He is beside me, and when I’m afraid, I know He is with me, and I survive on His strength not my own. So here’s the bottom line. I need to keep reminding myself that He is with me. Not just while I’m engaged in “holy things” but throughout the day. With His grace to help me, I’ll do my best.
I still have an open question about the dream that I described earlier. The feelings of need and desire resulting from the dream were due to loss. Did we once have God and happiness and somehow manage to lose both? Food for thought (and maybe a future post)…
