In an
interview given when he was 90*, Viktor Frankl talks about the conquest of
happiness:
"What the philosopher and lunatic
had in common, Frankl went on to explain, is the certainty that
happiness can be attained by furious pursuit and a consequent rage at
the unsatisfying results. His useful word for this is 'hyper-intention,'
a tendency that only inflames what is usually the real problem, our own
self-centeredness. 'Everything can be taken away from man but one
thing–to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances, to
choose one's own way.' The sane are those who accept this charge and do
not expect happiness by right. Thus Frankl's own 'logotherapy,' which
views suffering not as an obstacle to happiness but often the necessary
means to it, less a pathology than a path.
"Logotherapy
amounts in nearly all situations to the advice, 'Get to work.' Other
psychologies begin by asking, 'What do I want from life? Why am I
unhappy?' Logotherapy asks, 'What does life at this moment demand of
me?' Happiness, runs a favored Frankl formulation, 'ensues.'"
The great Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, also makes this point:
"You
do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is
all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and
challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with
courage, faith and hope."
In conclusion, if you
are seeking happiness you will not find it. Nor will it drop from
heaven, manna-like, into your out-stretched hands. If you wish to
conquer happiness, you will have to follow the advice of Frankl and get
to work. When happiness does come calling, it should find you quietly
working in the garden of your own mind as you observe this fantastic
universe around you and carefully consider what relationship you have to
it and it has to you.
*Viktor Frankl at Ninety: An Interview by Matthew Scully – First Things April
1995
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