Success and happiness: can they exist together?
Website design By BotEap.comA poor man was sleeping peacefully under a banyan tree, when a businessman manages to pass through the field. He was surprised that the man, who had barely covered his body with a sullen cloth, could sleep so peacefully even during the day.
He woke the poor man up and asked him: “Why are you sleeping? Why don’t you work?”
The poor man questioned the businessman: “Why should I work?”
“Well, if you work, you will earn money.” replied the businessman.
“And?” the poor man asked again.
“Then you can invest the money in businesses and make more money. Then you will have a lot of money.” advised the businessman.
The poor man repeated his question, “So?”
“Then you can enjoy your life.” said the businessman.
“But that’s what I’m doing.” said the poor
And he went back to sleep in peace. Website design By BotEap.comThe arguments of the poor do make sense. However, we always believed that success is necessary to achieve happiness in life. All our lives, we strive to achieve more and more success in the hope of achieving happiness after success. However, most people realize after achieving success in life that success hardly makes them happy. Each success brings with it a greater desire to achieve more success, and the process continues until the end of life. Website design By BotEap.comWhat is success? Website design By BotEap.comSuccess is difficult to define as it is too subjective. Thefreedictionary.com defines success as “the achievement of something desired, planned, or intended.” Since everyone’s desire is different, therefore “success” means different things to different people. Desires vary not only between different people but also for the same person at different stages of life. As soon as one wish is fulfilled, the next wish arises and the search for success continues. Website design By BotEap.comHappiness has been defined by thefreedictionary.com as “the state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy”. Thus, happiness seems to be only a temporary phenomenon that arises in those moments, when the desire is fulfilled or the goals are achieved. However, lasting happiness can never come from wish fulfillment, as man’s wishes can never be fulfilled, even if he acquires all the riches in the world or becomes the most powerful person in the world. Website design By BotEap.comThus all happiness is only temporary. Who wants such happiness that it must necessarily be followed by pain and misery in life? This is, however, the reality of life. Everything has a price and each one has to pay a price for everything he achieves in life. So the cost of success is paid in the corner of happiness. Website design By BotEap.comThe good news is that you can achieve happiness if you are willing to pay with your success. Is there any evidence for such claims? Website design By BotEap.comThe cost of success Website design By BotEap.comThe book, “Peace with God” by Billy Graham, narrates an incidence to show that success does not mean happiness. The relevant excerpts from the book are as follows Website design By BotEap.comIn 1923, a group of the world’s most successful financiers met at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. The Junta was an impressive set of wealth and power. Seated at the single table were the world’s largest independent steel company, a major wheat speculator, the president of the New York Stock Exchange, a member of the United States President’s cabinet, the president of the Bank for International Settlements , the man who was known as the biggest trader on Wall Street, and another who headed the most powerful monopoly in the world. Website design By BotEap.comTogether these eight men controlled more wealth than the United States treasury. Website design By BotEap.comThey fired the imagination and ignited envy. However, their stories were incomplete at the time, as people did not know their ends. The final stories of these most successful men are as follows. Website design By BotEap.comCharles Schwab, president of the steel company, lived the last years of his life on borrowed money and died penniless. Arthur Cutten, the greatest of wheat speculators, dies insolvent abroad. Richard Whitney, president of the New York Exchange, served a sentence in Singapore Penitentiary. Albert Paul, the cabinet member, was pardoned from prison so that he could die in his house. Jesse Livermore, the “bear” of Wall Street, Leon Frazer, president of the Bank for International Settlements, and Ivar Keuger, head of the world’s largest monopoly, all committed suicide. Website design By BotEap.comWhat is the lesson that these eight men were unaware of and remains unknown to the most successful people in the world? The lesson is clear and simple. It’s similar to the old adage that you can’t have the cake and eat it too. You cannot be successful and happy simultaneously. You have to lose one to get the other. Website design By BotEap.comthe source of happiness Website design By BotEap.comTrue happiness comes only from the fullness of the soul. Body satisfaction alone is not enough to make a person happy, as body satisfaction is only temporary. Just as no amount of food or water can satisfy a person’s desire for life, so it is with all material happiness. The man begins to feel hungry and thirsty within a few hours of feeding to the maximum. Thus all the physical and sensual pleasures that are related to the body satisfy the person only for a short time. Lasting happiness can only come from the satisfaction of the soul which is immaterial. A man gets happiness only when he works for the happiness of the soul that comes only from the service of God. No one can please the body and the soul at the same time. Jesus made it very clear when he said: Website design By BotEap.com“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be attached to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24) Website design By BotEap.comHere money represents the source to obtain physical pleasures in this world since everything that pleases the senses and the body can be bought with money. Thus it became clear in the Bible and other scriptures that one cannot achieve Money which is the material measure of worldly satisfaction of need or success and happiness which is the non-material measure of soul satisfaction. Website design By BotEap.comAchieving Success and Happiness Together Website design By BotEap.comTherefore, it is quite evident that it is impossible to please the body and the soul at the same time. Therefore, people who seek happiness often do not achieve success, and people who are successful do not achieve happiness. Website design By BotEap.comHowever, just as the body and the soul are not independent of each other and always exist together, the same is true of happiness and success. The body needs the soul to live and the soul needs the body to act. However, both actions must harmonize with each other to create symphony and beauty in life. Website design By BotEap.comEvery person after achieving success should change gear and then enjoy success. Only when happiness starts to decline, then one should aim for success again. Website design By BotEap.comWe can compare this phenomenon as kinetic and potential energy of physics. Once you work on an object and lift it to a height, your work is stored in the object as “potential energy.” Every time you leave the object, potential energy is converted to “kinetic energy,” which comes at the cost of potential energy. However, the total sum of energy is always the same, which is equal to the work done by you. Only gradually does the energy dissipate due to friction etc. Website design By BotEap.comTherefore, every successful person should, after achieving success, stop worshiping money and start worshiping God. What it means in real life is that one can after doing good for himself (selfish act), he must spend his wealth for the poor and needy of the world (selfless service). Thus his success becomes happiness that comes only when the person serves the world, which means serving God as God is present in every creature in this world. This is what Bill Gates is doing after achieving all the success in this world. Website design By BotEap.comConclusion: happiness and success are complementary Website design By BotEap.comTherefore, happiness and success are not contradictory to each other, but complementary to each other. They are as complementary as man and woman, day and night, body and soul. They are different, but they only exist with each other. You can never achieve one without the other, nor can you achieve both at the same time. This is how the world seems to have been designed. Anyone who tries to achieve happiness without achieving success in this world fails just as no one can serve God if his body is hungry. In the same way, no one achieves happiness if they only seek the satisfaction of the body and the senses. Therefore, a wise man balances both in life and alternately achieves both happiness and success in this world.
He woke the poor man up and asked him: “Why are you sleeping? Why don’t you work?”
The poor man questioned the businessman: “Why should I work?”
“Well, if you work, you will earn money.” replied the businessman.
“And?” the poor man asked again.
“Then you can invest the money in businesses and make more money. Then you will have a lot of money.” advised the businessman.
The poor man repeated his question, “So?”
“Then you can enjoy your life.” said the businessman.
“But that’s what I’m doing.” said the poor
And he went back to sleep in peace. Website design By BotEap.comThe arguments of the poor do make sense. However, we always believed that success is necessary to achieve happiness in life. All our lives, we strive to achieve more and more success in the hope of achieving happiness after success. However, most people realize after achieving success in life that success hardly makes them happy. Each success brings with it a greater desire to achieve more success, and the process continues until the end of life. Website design By BotEap.comWhat is success? Website design By BotEap.comSuccess is difficult to define as it is too subjective. Thefreedictionary.com defines success as “the achievement of something desired, planned, or intended.” Since everyone’s desire is different, therefore “success” means different things to different people. Desires vary not only between different people but also for the same person at different stages of life. As soon as one wish is fulfilled, the next wish arises and the search for success continues. Website design By BotEap.comHappiness has been defined by thefreedictionary.com as “the state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy”. Thus, happiness seems to be only a temporary phenomenon that arises in those moments, when the desire is fulfilled or the goals are achieved. However, lasting happiness can never come from wish fulfillment, as man’s wishes can never be fulfilled, even if he acquires all the riches in the world or becomes the most powerful person in the world. Website design By BotEap.comThus all happiness is only temporary. Who wants such happiness that it must necessarily be followed by pain and misery in life? This is, however, the reality of life. Everything has a price and each one has to pay a price for everything he achieves in life. So the cost of success is paid in the corner of happiness. Website design By BotEap.comThe good news is that you can achieve happiness if you are willing to pay with your success. Is there any evidence for such claims? Website design By BotEap.comThe cost of success Website design By BotEap.comThe book, “Peace with God” by Billy Graham, narrates an incidence to show that success does not mean happiness. The relevant excerpts from the book are as follows Website design By BotEap.comIn 1923, a group of the world’s most successful financiers met at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. The Junta was an impressive set of wealth and power. Seated at the single table were the world’s largest independent steel company, a major wheat speculator, the president of the New York Stock Exchange, a member of the United States President’s cabinet, the president of the Bank for International Settlements , the man who was known as the biggest trader on Wall Street, and another who headed the most powerful monopoly in the world. Website design By BotEap.comTogether these eight men controlled more wealth than the United States treasury. Website design By BotEap.comThey fired the imagination and ignited envy. However, their stories were incomplete at the time, as people did not know their ends. The final stories of these most successful men are as follows. Website design By BotEap.comCharles Schwab, president of the steel company, lived the last years of his life on borrowed money and died penniless. Arthur Cutten, the greatest of wheat speculators, dies insolvent abroad. Richard Whitney, president of the New York Exchange, served a sentence in Singapore Penitentiary. Albert Paul, the cabinet member, was pardoned from prison so that he could die in his house. Jesse Livermore, the “bear” of Wall Street, Leon Frazer, president of the Bank for International Settlements, and Ivar Keuger, head of the world’s largest monopoly, all committed suicide. Website design By BotEap.comWhat is the lesson that these eight men were unaware of and remains unknown to the most successful people in the world? The lesson is clear and simple. It’s similar to the old adage that you can’t have the cake and eat it too. You cannot be successful and happy simultaneously. You have to lose one to get the other. Website design By BotEap.comthe source of happiness Website design By BotEap.comTrue happiness comes only from the fullness of the soul. Body satisfaction alone is not enough to make a person happy, as body satisfaction is only temporary. Just as no amount of food or water can satisfy a person’s desire for life, so it is with all material happiness. The man begins to feel hungry and thirsty within a few hours of feeding to the maximum. Thus all the physical and sensual pleasures that are related to the body satisfy the person only for a short time. Lasting happiness can only come from the satisfaction of the soul which is immaterial. A man gets happiness only when he works for the happiness of the soul that comes only from the service of God. No one can please the body and the soul at the same time. Jesus made it very clear when he said: Website design By BotEap.com“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be attached to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24) Website design By BotEap.comHere money represents the source to obtain physical pleasures in this world since everything that pleases the senses and the body can be bought with money. Thus it became clear in the Bible and other scriptures that one cannot achieve Money which is the material measure of worldly satisfaction of need or success and happiness which is the non-material measure of soul satisfaction. Website design By BotEap.comAchieving Success and Happiness Together Website design By BotEap.comTherefore, it is quite evident that it is impossible to please the body and the soul at the same time. Therefore, people who seek happiness often do not achieve success, and people who are successful do not achieve happiness. Website design By BotEap.comHowever, just as the body and the soul are not independent of each other and always exist together, the same is true of happiness and success. The body needs the soul to live and the soul needs the body to act. However, both actions must harmonize with each other to create symphony and beauty in life. Website design By BotEap.comEvery person after achieving success should change gear and then enjoy success. Only when happiness starts to decline, then one should aim for success again. Website design By BotEap.comWe can compare this phenomenon as kinetic and potential energy of physics. Once you work on an object and lift it to a height, your work is stored in the object as “potential energy.” Every time you leave the object, potential energy is converted to “kinetic energy,” which comes at the cost of potential energy. However, the total sum of energy is always the same, which is equal to the work done by you. Only gradually does the energy dissipate due to friction etc. Website design By BotEap.comTherefore, every successful person should, after achieving success, stop worshiping money and start worshiping God. What it means in real life is that one can after doing good for himself (selfish act), he must spend his wealth for the poor and needy of the world (selfless service). Thus his success becomes happiness that comes only when the person serves the world, which means serving God as God is present in every creature in this world. This is what Bill Gates is doing after achieving all the success in this world. Website design By BotEap.comConclusion: happiness and success are complementary Website design By BotEap.comTherefore, happiness and success are not contradictory to each other, but complementary to each other. They are as complementary as man and woman, day and night, body and soul. They are different, but they only exist with each other. You can never achieve one without the other, nor can you achieve both at the same time. This is how the world seems to have been designed. Anyone who tries to achieve happiness without achieving success in this world fails just as no one can serve God if his body is hungry. In the same way, no one achieves happiness if they only seek the satisfaction of the body and the senses. Therefore, a wise man balances both in life and alternately achieves both happiness and success in this world.