Do we need another person in order to be happy? Or better, can we only be truly happy through someone else? This is an idea that man has been clinging to vehemently, especially in this modern era called anthropocentric, because man's ideas are markedly megalomanic, leading him to act as though he were the creator of happiness, if not of life itself (existentialist philosophy).
I have noted that it is fundamental to perceive that a part of everything we do, whether good or evil, remains in us and affects us. But only benevolent attitudes have a permanent effect on the external world, because any distortion, omission, or denial of goodness results in discomfort or in the obstruction of one's very life. When I say that I like a certain person, I mean that I have love to give. Therefore, I am able to love others because I also accept the love I have for myself.
If we do the opposite and deny affection, we are choosing the path to intolerance, for the intransigence that a person shows toward another is exactly the same as he shows toward himself. If our intentions toward someone are harmful, we are doing harm to ourselves as well.
What are we? Are we neurosis, and psychosis, and sickness, deceit, and error? No. We are truth, we are reality, - the greatest magnificence of all creation. And evil is simply an attitude of omission, denial, or distortion of this marvellous reality.
We are linked to all that is greater, more beautiful, and better than we are. Our only illness is our attitude of wanting to sever this incredible union. We are not horn for misfortune and dishonor, but for glory and happiness. Our true existence is not martyrdom and suffering, but joy and satisfaction. We are not born for poverty but for achievement, because our Creator is the richest, the best, the most beautiful and agreeable thing that can ever exist.
The universe exists for light and beauty, not for darkness and oppression. The latter are the result of the never-ending efforts of a finite being who in spite of denying himself glorification, increases the glory of God's eternal beauty.
If sanity and happiness are within our reach, why do we not accept them? We do not accept them because we think we will suffer, for it would mean having to accept something we ourselves did not create, and that would mean rising above our envy, our anger, and our rage, in order to feel grateful to God. Our feelings of gratitude toward God are our happiness; our feelings of acceptance are our true life, which is love.
To live well we must accept life; but to do this we must renounce our megalomania in order to see that life is a gift we receive from its sole owner. When we accept this, we live in truth and beauty, and that is incredibly marvellous.
When we accept what we receive from the Creator, we immediately establish contact with truth and beauty, and this permits us to be good. Our contact is love, the process of enjoying goodness (which radiates from itself). It makes us become better persons and enables us to spread this goodness to others, for love expands and overflows from the person.
We exist because of the goodness of the Creator, the goodness that flows from Him, and this contact with Him also makes us expand toward others, for contact is always an act of love. When we accept goodness, we become good, and our goodness makes us happy.
We can be happy only by accepting this goodness that comes to us from outside and by linking ourselves to it. In this way, of course, we will be producing other links endlessly in time and in space, forming one great communion with the billions of creatures who unite to contemplate God's infinite glory.
From: KEPPE, Norberto da Rocha. Glorification. São Paulo: Proton Publishing House, 1981.
Reflection: If sanity and happiness are within our reach, why do we not accept them?
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