Philosophy of Life Why should we live and not commit suicide?

The Philosophy of Life.

Have you ever been wandering why you should continue to live, and, not commit suicide?
This is an important question that has to be answered sooner, than later. When one talks of the
purpose of his life or the purpose of his existence in this world, one should look at what he wants
to do or achieve, as his ultimate objective, before his death. The frame work for that is the
philosophy of life,

Some individuals live and enjoy making money, to be rich; some, want to be powerful. Others
think that they would like to be very popular. There is another group that believes in leaving
everything they have, including property, family and friends, go into jungles or into secluded
places and meditate in search of happiness, by foregoing the material comforts they are
enjoying.

There is another group that says: “I want to eat, drink and enjoy life with the money I make.
What else do you need?”

You might not belong to any of these groups. However, it is necessary for you to think and
take a decision, at least for the time being, what you would like to do and what would you like
to achieve with your own life. If you do not wish to be unhappy in the evening of your life,
you must be able to look back and think that you have lived a successful and a happy life.
Repentance is one of the main causes of sorrow in the last years of life.

Our life is short and we have only a limited number of years to live. One day, either sooner or
later, we have to say, “good bye” to everyone we know, leave behind everything we own,
and depart. How much of the wealth you have accumulated, will you be taking with
you when they take your casket to the cemetery.

If you value happiness, and wish to live happily, there would be a necessity for you to look at
some trading opportunities: what would you like to give up in return for what you will
receive as happiness. That is the price you have to pay as the price for being happy.

Happiness is wealth supreme
For many individuals, happiness is the wealth supreme. They would prefer to trade
whatever they have to be happy. But majority of us kill ourselves to make more money
without realizing that the money we make would cease to be an asset on the day of our death.

Lord Bertrand Russell, the most respected philosopher during the last century, wrote that a
certain comfortable income is necessary for an individual to be happy. That is to meet with
your basic expenses such as health, food, clothing and shelter.

The things you need to stay happy change when you grow older. When you are young,
you think you can be happy by gratifying your body. But when you grow older you
need more happiness based on the mind, family and your own people.

Lord Buddha has said that one-quarter of ones income should be saved for the future which is
uncertain. Do we have to toil for anything more? Yes. What for? Is not the human nature? The
human nature is such that you are a gatherer and you will never be content with what you gather
or what you have. You need more food than you can devour, you need more clothing than you
can wear and you need more happy assets than you can use.

I need more, is the basic cry. You keep on gathering all what you can lay your hands on, not
for consumption, or because you need it, but for the sake of gathering. If that is your
philosophy of life, happiness will always be a distant dream.

The Golden Mean
Early Greek philosophers talked about the golden mean. Lord Buddha explained the
concept of the middle path. Lord Jesus Christ and all other religious leader shave
extolled the virtues of sharing what you have with others. If we can reduce our
craving for excessive indulgence happiness will not be an elusive mirage.

It is difficult for an outsider to dictate what the philosophy of ones life should be; and it is
purely a personal affair. But certain guide lines, extolled by all religious leaders could help
tremendously in reaching the Kingdom of Happiness

Happiness is the dividend you receive for your investments, whether in words, or in
thoughts or in deeds, to make others happy.

This can be done very easily, even without spending a singe cent. Sometimes it is possible for a
kind word, at the right time, to change the entire life of an individual. Kind thoughts, or
thoughts of love and compassion can be radiated throughout the entire world, seated at your
place of meditation. Words and thoughts do not cost you money.

Would you like to invest 10 minutes of your time to meditate? Watching a television program
might help you to spend your leisure time in relaxing with zero activity on your part except
with your ears or the eyes. But meditation might help you to control your mind to enhance
your levels happiness. Philosophy of your life is the foundation on which you should build
your life. Or else it will end up as a house without a foundation.

Path to Happiness
Happiness is the ultimate objective of all human endeavours. But the path to that happiness
has not been clearly understood. Therefore, majority of men, women and children, pursue
other objectives without a clear understanding that they are not the final objectives in life.
We find it difficult to differentiate between the clouds and the sky, because our views about
this world is always clouded by certain misconceptions and values which we have either
inherited, or we have cultivated ourselves with the wrong inputs.

In the very first sermon Lord Buddha,defined the path to happiness and is known as the Noble
Eight Fold Path. The important components are: correct vision, correct concepts, correct words,
correct ways of living, correct consciousness and correct concentration. What we see as paths to
happiness are always covered with hidden land mines which we cannot understand, which we
cannot see, which we can see only when they have exploded under our own feet.

In the modern society some objectives such as beauty, money, power and sex are being
pursued with aggressiveness thinking that they could make us happy. Most of us are
enchanted with beauty. We want to look beautiful. We always want to live in a beautiful
house, wear beautiful clothes. We make an unreasonable attempt to make the environment in
which we live, look beautiful. It helps us to be happy, only in the short term. When the flower
plants die, the clothes get dirty, and the house is destroyed slowly by the elements, we are forced
to repair them. That is where the unhappiness comes in.

At the end of the day all the time, money and energy we spend on being beautiful would be
considered as wasted when that beauty changes to ugliness, either due to age or due to other
elements. That change could only make us unhappy. It is the same with money and all the other
happy asset we keep on collecting with the objective of being happy.

It is the same with our relationships that we wish to build to make us happy. All
relationships that we think of as being useful to make us happy change, either due to age or
due to millions of other reasons. That change triggers frustration and unhappiness which we
sometimes, find difficult to accept.

We should make an attempt to acquire the right understanding of the world, which is always
subject to that universal law: IMPERMANENCE.

One small point for consideration. We all know that we have to leave every thing that
we make and own when the final call comes. But yet we keep on collecting until the
date of our death. How do we reconcile this?

HappiLogo-
The red colour in the
HappiLog is
happiness;
the gray colour is
unhappiness
and the white isthe
zone of
indifference.

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Contents.

Letter from Editor

Mind Skills

Attitudes

Know Your Mind

Meditation

Happiness
defined

Happiness &
stress

Enemies of
Happiness

Happiness
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Philosophy of
Life

The HappiCraft

Sompal Explores
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The Happyraj

About us

Case Study on
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Happy Herbal
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Styles

If you don't have a life
plan based on a
philosophy, whatever
you do, can be
interpreted as either
correct or even wrong.