In my last installment on this topic I pointed out that happiness as the primary aim in life is a mistaken priority. In this entry, I want to flesh that out just a little bit more…

Most of us can readily see that when someone lives for a vice (drugs, crime or an adulterous relationship), they are living for instantaneous happiness.  But how does this practice to areas of our lives that are morally neutral? There is nothing wrong with food or eating, but if your whole life revolves around eating food, your life will quickly spin out of control. When you live for happiness, at some point that will become the most difficult thing for you to find!

Suppose someone were to start building a house by hammering composite roofing to the ground. We would probably assume they were a few fries short of a happy meal!  Before adding a roof, you first need an appropriate structure on which to lay a roof! No one believes a roof is inappropriate; it’s just that one starts with other things before adding a roof.

Notice from the analogy that once a house is complete, it WILL have a roof on it.  If you build your life upon the appropriate things, your life will certainly have happiness. This of course does not guarantee happiness all of the time. Rather, it means that a life properly “built” will oftentimes enjoy happiness as an accoutrement.

This entire discussion now begs the question: what IS an appropriate foundation upon which to build our lives?  What type of foundation leads to the sort of lives for which we were all created?

We will look at that in our next installment….

In case you missed part 1:

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