Success and Happiness

Is it better to be happy or to be successful in life?

Success is to get what one desires, while happiness is to desire that which one gets. Based on this distinction, we can deduce that happiness doesn’t always follow success, because the risk of remaining disillusioned and dissatisfied by running after success obsessively is around the corner. On the other part, success has something to do with the external, with the world outside us, with the culture of our time, and therefore it’s continuously changing.

To acquire success in ancient Greece could mean winning an olive laurel in the Olympic games; in ancient Rome, it was acquiring the liberty of the Civis Romanus (Roman Citizenship) if one had been a slave; in the Middle Ages, it could have meant becoming a respected knight or a feudal cavalier, and at present, perhaps, to be a Wall Street trader.

To sum up, each historical period, every epoch has its own concept of success, while the idea of happiness is unchanging, or constant with the passing of time, because it concerns our inner world which is the same for all, and where the ultimate objective or goal is peace of mind. It’s somewhat like Candide of Voltaire who after running around carelessly and uselessly in search of making better worlds, in the end finds tranquility in cultivating his own small garden.

The concept of success should not be eliminated, nor refuted or demonized. Instead, if considered in the right perspective, success is something to be admired and sought after. Here’s a description of success by the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, and it’s really something to ponder on:

To laugh often and to love much,

To gain the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children,

To obtain the approval of honest critics and to bear with the betrayal of false friends,

To appreciate beauty and see the good in others,

To give to others,

To leave the world a little better, with a child better taken care of,

A piece of garden or a life socially redeemed,

To have played and laughed enthusiastically,

To have sung exultantly,

To become aware that, thanks to our existence,

More or less a life has become better…

Pasquale Ionata

http://www.newcityph.com/