The Pursuit of Happiness

I was interested in an op-ed piece in today's Los Angeles Times, Bush, and thought I'd let you have a copy. It's about the pursuit of happiness. Just click on the link, and you'll be there in an instant. Anyway, while not disagreeing with what Lisa Grunwald had to say, I felt the need to append a slightly different view--which I did in the form of a letter to the Times. Who knows if it will ever see the light of day on the letters page; rather than simply wait and hope, I thought I'd let you have a copy in advance.

To the Editor:
Lisa Grunwald is right to question the pursuit of happiness, if happiness is no more than getting what we want. That does seem to be the currently-held view. I confess that I do, however, "just want my daughter to be happy"--along with all those with whom she shares this planet. I happen to like the Buddhist teachings on this subject, which suggest that happiness lies not in "getting what we want," but in understanding that desire (along with its opposite, revulsion) is in itself the source of our unhappiness. Happiness then becomes an actually attainable goal, if we can only learn to detach ourselves from our knee-jerk responses to what we have learned to view as desirable, as well as to what we think we must avoid at all costs. That new car, in other words, is not the source of true happniess, in this view. Nor is the well-paid job, the beautiful spouse, the successful career. By the same token, happiness does not consist in desperately attempting to insulate ourselves from pain--hardly a realistic goal--or staving off the wrinkles of approaching age. The true, attainable happiness is the state of mind that allows us to embrace whatever comes our way with equanimity. But it does take an awful lot of hard work to get there, especially given the pressures and expectations of a consumer society that trains us what to desire--and what to recoil from--at the tenderest age!

Yours truly....