It would seem that we have strayed from our main topic of "Perfect Happiness is our Birth-Right" to various unpleasant measures to gain it! This feeling is due to the fact that we fail to distinguish between what we think should happiness be and real happiness. Let us quote from the famous British Philosopher John Locke's (1632-1704) book "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding": "The necessity of pursuing happiness is the foundation of liberty. As therefore the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation for our liberty. The stronger ties we have to an unalterable pursuit of happiness in general, which is our greatest good, and which, as such, our desires always follow, the more are we free from any necessary determination of our will to any particular action". (1894, P. 348).
We see that Locke makes further distinctions between imaginary and real happiness as well as the pleasures we experience here on earth and those we shall experience in heaven. The great medieval Philosopher Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) made the important distinction between imperfect happiness here on earth and perfect happiness in heaven. Locke stressed the continuity between the two as the present pleasures are sweet foretastes of the pleasures in heaven. He made our pursuit of happiness as the foundation of our liberty and the everlasting happiness as the foundation for our perfect happiness. This is so because: (a) our claim to liberty can be based only on our right to pursue personal happiness; (b) our attachment to perfect happiness enables us to be detached from any apparent and imaginary manifestations of happiness in our life. Because everyone has the secret fear of death, Locke concludes, if there is no everlasting happiness for which we need to order our life morally and practice virtues, there will not be any real happiness at all!
We can perceive that the true foundation of perfect happiness cannot be laid in as temporary and fleeting a feature as the pleasures we enjoy in this world. It is not the case that we are forbidden to enjoy them; on the contrary, there is nothing wrong in enjoying them with a detached attitude. Detachment does not mean indifference or disinterest, but absence of compulsion leading to addictions (See our Post on 'Detachment'). Gradual detachment from everything finite and temporal, even while enjoying them, enables us not to be addicted to and enslaved by them. We are able to be free and be master of everything in the world as our real attachment and addiction are to the Infinite and the Everlasting. Our intimate and deep nature craves for this kind of complete satisfaction derivable from God alone. This is the reason why Jesus offered eternal life to anyone who believed in him as the believer in him turns out to be within the ambit of the Kingdom of God that is perfect happiness.
What is the credibility of Jesus Christ in offering eternal life to anyone who believed in him? What is so unique to Jesus in contrast to all other spiritual masters the world has seen? That he was God Himself become man is part of faith to believe which God has to draw the believer to Himself. Even before this kind of faith is operative in someone, the claim of Jesus that he has words of eternal life may be experienced from the fact that he proved his words by his actions. Jesus offered himself as a living sacrifice on the cross in accordance with his claim that he conquered the world by conquering himself. That God accepted his offering was shown by raising him up from the dead investing him with new life belonging to the Kingdom of God. Unlike the present material world, the Kingdom of God is full of perfect happiness. The foundation, therefore, of perfect happiness is in the eternal and permanent nature of the Kingdom of God.
That Jesus was crucified is a fact of history verifiable by truth-seekers. His resurrection from the dead, however, is both historical and trans-historical, belonging both to this world and the next world. Here historical study alone cannot establish the full truth as faith is required to see through the implications of this historical fact. This is but a requirement of the nature of the subject itself, resurrection being not limited to the confines of this world, but bursting out of it into eternity or being transcendental. Perfect practice of what Jesus claimed and taught and acceptance of the same by God the Father by raising him from the dead is the final proof of his credibility due to which we are in a sure footing if we believe in him!
We see that Locke makes further distinctions between imaginary and real happiness as well as the pleasures we experience here on earth and those we shall experience in heaven. The great medieval Philosopher Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) made the important distinction between imperfect happiness here on earth and perfect happiness in heaven. Locke stressed the continuity between the two as the present pleasures are sweet foretastes of the pleasures in heaven. He made our pursuit of happiness as the foundation of our liberty and the everlasting happiness as the foundation for our perfect happiness. This is so because: (a) our claim to liberty can be based only on our right to pursue personal happiness; (b) our attachment to perfect happiness enables us to be detached from any apparent and imaginary manifestations of happiness in our life. Because everyone has the secret fear of death, Locke concludes, if there is no everlasting happiness for which we need to order our life morally and practice virtues, there will not be any real happiness at all!
We can perceive that the true foundation of perfect happiness cannot be laid in as temporary and fleeting a feature as the pleasures we enjoy in this world. It is not the case that we are forbidden to enjoy them; on the contrary, there is nothing wrong in enjoying them with a detached attitude. Detachment does not mean indifference or disinterest, but absence of compulsion leading to addictions (See our Post on 'Detachment'). Gradual detachment from everything finite and temporal, even while enjoying them, enables us not to be addicted to and enslaved by them. We are able to be free and be master of everything in the world as our real attachment and addiction are to the Infinite and the Everlasting. Our intimate and deep nature craves for this kind of complete satisfaction derivable from God alone. This is the reason why Jesus offered eternal life to anyone who believed in him as the believer in him turns out to be within the ambit of the Kingdom of God that is perfect happiness.
What is the credibility of Jesus Christ in offering eternal life to anyone who believed in him? What is so unique to Jesus in contrast to all other spiritual masters the world has seen? That he was God Himself become man is part of faith to believe which God has to draw the believer to Himself. Even before this kind of faith is operative in someone, the claim of Jesus that he has words of eternal life may be experienced from the fact that he proved his words by his actions. Jesus offered himself as a living sacrifice on the cross in accordance with his claim that he conquered the world by conquering himself. That God accepted his offering was shown by raising him up from the dead investing him with new life belonging to the Kingdom of God. Unlike the present material world, the Kingdom of God is full of perfect happiness. The foundation, therefore, of perfect happiness is in the eternal and permanent nature of the Kingdom of God.
That Jesus was crucified is a fact of history verifiable by truth-seekers. His resurrection from the dead, however, is both historical and trans-historical, belonging both to this world and the next world. Here historical study alone cannot establish the full truth as faith is required to see through the implications of this historical fact. This is but a requirement of the nature of the subject itself, resurrection being not limited to the confines of this world, but bursting out of it into eternity or being transcendental. Perfect practice of what Jesus claimed and taught and acceptance of the same by God the Father by raising him from the dead is the final proof of his credibility due to which we are in a sure footing if we believe in him!
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