Why people do not find peace and happiness
Most people do not find peace and happiness in life because they do not look for them where they can be found.
A poor man passing by a splendid palace and gazing at it greedily says to himself with a sigh: “That's where happiness is! Everything is there: the best food, expensive clothes, servants; you'll want for nothing your whole life and you'll enjoy life.”
The owner of this palace, seeing a poor peasant, will likewise sigh thoughtfully: “There's a happy man! His hut knows nothing of the daily bustle that fills the palace. In his cramped house, under the low ceiling, there is room only for health and sincere cheerfulness; nobody there pays heed to other people's lofty and supposedly weighty opinions.”
A peasant meeting a high official surrounded by admirers thinks to himself: “How happy he is! Everyone honours him and obeys him, his word is law, they hang on his every glance, guess his thoughts and wishes.” And the official, catching sight of the peasant by chance, thinks likewise: “How well off he is! He knows neither disappointment nor dashed hopes, nor the hard struggles with the vanity and greed of his wife and subordinates, nor the treacherous schemes of envy from which the upper class can never free itself.” Every condition sees more joy, peace and happiness in another.
Where does such dissatisfaction with one's own lot come from? Its source, of course, lies hidden deep in our nature, which was created for endless perfection, for complete blessedness — which does not and cannot exist on earth now. It is the result of a wrong view of life and plain evidence of a lack of living faith. We look for paradise on earth; we want to feed on the fruit of the tree of life. We forget that since the day the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil was tasted, the entrance to paradise has been closed by unapproachable guards, the fiery cherubim. Defilers of the image of God in ourselves, we want the whole world with all its wealth to serve us like a slave. But faith teaches that the earth is not a place of blessedness but a place for offenders banished from paradise, a field for journeying towards the heavenly homeland and not a peaceful haven; an arena of labour, ascetic struggle and outward and inward battles, and not a pleasant resting place.
Let us put our desires to death and give them the right direction, in keeping with the faith; then we shall be content and find peace and joy even in our present condition.
Often, when people complain about the present, they compare it with the past. They say that times used to be better, that people lived more happily and peacefully. That is not hard to believe. They were less taken up with daydreams and understood the meaning of life better, because they were more faithful. They were less inclined to luxury, because they felt keenly the nothingness of everything earthly and thought more about eternal rest; they were more patient in labour and hardship. They took life's difficulties as God's providence, so they did not grumble but prayed, and the Lord shortened their terrible times for them and sent them days of rest. Thus faith sweetened people's lives, lightened their burdens and ordered their peace well. You too, look at all the events and circumstances of life with the eyes of faith, and in everything you will see the hand of the Lord; you will be humbled and at peace.
We often complain that life is hard, that we are unhappy… Why does this happen? Is it not because we always act according to our own will and not God's? Is it not because we have not entrusted ourselves to God's will that life is hard for us and we are unhappy? Yes, brethren! Without submission to God's will we shall not attain happiness. True happiness lies precisely in this.
If you want to be happy, Christian, live by the teaching of the Church. Happy is he who does not dream of happiness and does not fear unhappiness. Where do people not travel in search of happiness — they seek it everywhere; yet it is in us, in our hearts, where we hardly ever look.
So, if you want to find happiness, look for it in your heart. If it is not there, you will find it nowhere.
