"I actually attack the concept of
happiness. The idea that - I don’t mind people being happy - but the idea that
everything we do is part of the pursuit of happiness seems to me a really
dangerous idea and has led to a contemporary disease in Western society, which
is fear of sadness. It’s a really odd thing that we’re now seeing people saying
“write down 3 things that made you happy today before you go to sleep”, and
“cheer up” and “happiness is our birthright” and so on. We’re kind of teaching
our kids that happiness is the default position - it’s rubbish. Wholeness is
what we ought to be striving for and part of that is sadness, disappointment,
frustration, failure; all of those things which make us who we are. Happiness
and victory and fulfillment are nice little things that also happen to us, but
they don’t teach us much. Everyone says we grow through pain and then as soon
as they experience pain they say “Quick! Move on! Cheer up!” I’d like just for
a year to have a moratorium on the word “happiness” and to replace it with the
word “wholeness”. Ask yourself “is this contributing to my wholeness?” and if
you’re having a bad day, it is."
-Hugh Mackay
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