The Pursuit of Happiness

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
— United States Declaration of Independence

The founding dream of America promises not happiness itself, but the right to pursue it. Yet this very notion of pursuit may be the reason happiness feels so elusive. The pursuit of happiness can be a self-defeating endeavor. If we are pursuing something, then by definition we don’t have it. Since happiness is not an object that can be owned or a final destination that can be reached, our pursuit will never reach a final satisfaction.

So then should we give up on the pursuit of happiness and settle for what we’ve already got now?  This is where things get fun because if we don’t pursue happiness, we will wither and squander our potential. Our goals will go unfulfilled, our relationships will stagnate, and our health will deteriorate. Meaningful relationships, fulfilling work, and personal achievement all bring joy—and all require work and pursuit. 

So there is a paradox at the center of our desire for happiness.  We cannot pursue it, or we’ll never get it; we cannot not pursue it, or we will decay. Somehow, happiness cannot be pursued or not pursued.

Why did the founding fathers choose the word “pursuit.” 

Pursuit: to capture, kill, obtain, accomplish, work toward, or engage in. 

They could have promised us happiness directly.  Instead they told us we had a right to work toward it. Perhaps our nation’s founders wanted citizens ready to fight, accomplish, and work to earn their well-being.  Working your way into the Kingdom of Heaven is not a new idea. Of all these meanings however, “to engage in” is my favorite because happiness is not something to capture; it is something to participate in.  It is a place to live from.  When we live from our basic well-being, we engage in present, purposeful and satisfying pursuit.

When we forget that this present moment is all we are ever going to experience, we start pursuing what we want from a vacuous place of lack.  When the present isn’t enough for us, we project happiness into the future after some desire has been fulfilled.  After we have graduated.  After we retire.  After this depression has passed.  After these dishes.  After this busy quarter at work.  When is this after supposed to arrive?  When the time finally roles around for after, what time is it?

Now.

“The past is history, the future is a mystery, but the present is a gift. That’s why they call it the present.”

That aphorism is pretty cheeky.  And as hackneyed as the notion of presence seems to have become, I want to put forth that it is only through the doorway of the present moment that we have a chance of walking the tightrope through this paradox and realizing satisfying pursuit.  

Suffering comes when we reject what is here now.  Liberation happens when we embrace this moment as all we are ever going to experience. We are not liberated from the moment but into it! There is nothing truly lacking right now.  No not then - Now! In just this moment, there are no problems. There might be pain or sadness, but just in this moment, it is bearable.  In fact pain and sorrow can be beautiful and deepen our human experience and capacity. When we remember this—even for a breath—we return to a sense of sacredness regardless of the quality of our experience. 

Meditation offers powerful evidence for our basic nature being one of wellness. When we sit still and allow our thoughts to settle, we often discover a surprising peace. When the mind quiets and the body ceases striving, bliss emerges—not because we’ve achieved anything, but because we’ve removed the noise that obscures our natural contentment. How could doing and thinking nothing feel so good unless our basic state was already well?

Just as we can get lost in pursuit, projecting happiness into the future, we can also get lost in presence.  Zen master Suzuki Roshi writes about falling into a dangerous river, almost drowning, while his students watched peacefully from their meditation cushions.  The experience was a major wakeup call for him as he realized that something was missing in their practice of pure presence.  

Just living for today is a recipe for becoming a bum one day.  Deeply absorbed in presence, everyday pursuits from taxes to goals can feel frivolous.  Why pursue things if the present is already full?  One of the most famous spiritual texts ever written, the Tao Te Ching, is not shy about offering this perspective:

“The wise person has no goals, no judgements, no attachments; thus everything that happens to her is neither good nor bad, and she will never fail nor succeed.”

I think Laozi overextends here.  No goals and no judgments sounds like being Zenned out to me.  I hear the term Zenned out all the time now.  That to me encapsulates the error on the presence side of the paradox.  If you shut yourself off from the world and its imperfection, declaring all goals to be futile  and zone out, then you’re missing it!

Don’t Zen out - Zen in!

Authentic presence doesn’t mean we abandon action. It means we root action in presence. From this place of presence, we act—not to escape the moment, but to care for what is dear to us within it. 

We cannot reject now to pursue happiness later.  Later never comes.  It’s always happening now.  We cannot reject later to indulge in now.  Now doesn’t last long.  Later is always coming for us now. This suggests that the resolution of the paradox lies in a combined presence and pursuit.  Can we pursue not from a place of lack but from a place of fullness that longs to express and share its bounty with the world.

So why do we get stuck in the first place?  Why aren’t we naturally living the paradox of present pursuit?  Because the present gets really hard and uncomfortable and we reject it.  Or the present becomes our only concern and we neglect the future.  Heartbreak, failure, anxiety, depression hit us and we reject their inherent worth.  We say happiness cannot be found here.  Then we pursue it in the future.  Or, we become indulgent in now, forgetting that it is fleeting.  We indulge our newfound mindfulness and absorb ourselves in triviality and short-lived hedonism.  The key is realizing that there is no experience that justifies rejecting the sacredness of now.  And there is no experience now that is worth jeopardizing the future that is rapidly coming for us.  

A natural, active expression of our innate wellbeing is to jump up and get after that which makes our soul sing. From stillness arises motion. From peace arises purpose. From basic well-being arise actions that bring more well-being. It is when we shut ourselves off from our basic well-being in the present that our actions and pursuit start to lead us into greater suffering.  We also can fall from grace by focusing only on what is here and sweeping what is coming under the rug.

Jennifer Welwood reminds us there is no real escape:

“Each condition I flee from pursues me.
Each condition I welcome transforms me
And becomes itself transformed into its radiant jewel-like essence.”

Everything is workable—if we open to it. Everything is beautiful—if we’re open to it. Everything transforms us, creating even more well-being—if…

The present moment, however painful, is the only place happiness has ever lived. We cannot pursue it to get it nor can we find it in complacency. Happiness is something we must remember, return to, and then engage in.