1. Is the secret of happiness known?
Yes. It is known what leads to true joy. And the obstacles and mirages are known.
2. What are the obstacles and mirages?
They are things that provide some pleasure but of a passing nature. They carry the danger of confusing man and making him believe that happiness lies there. As a result, that person stops searching, only to find that those were only fleeting joys.
3. Where is happiness not to be found?
The answer is fairly easy and well known. There are several typical examples of those passing pleasures that can confuse man:
- Money, material goods...
- Sex, comfort, bodily pleasures...: Pleasures provide pleasure but not happiness.
- Success, fame, social applause, professional triumph...
4. Where should one look for happiness?
Several ideas give direction to the search:
- Doing good gives more happiness than doing evil.
- Goods of the soul produce more lasting joys. Among other reasons because the soul is immortal and the body with its goods will perish.
- The human heart is happiest when serving others. Selfishness harms us.
5. Where is happiness to be found?
In this life it is not possible to be completely happy. Not even things as noble as marriage or work make man entirely happy. Even the ideas in the previous point provide an incomplete joy, for God our Lord has created us with such a great capacity for enjoyment that earthly goods and creatures do not satisfy our heart. Only He, the infinite Good, can do so. Therefore, we shall be completely happy only with God in heaven.
6. And to be happy on earth?
On earth, man is happier to the extent that he draws closer to God. The saints are the happiest people on earth. Holiness is the secret of happiness.
7. Knowing it is not enough.
7. It is not enough simply to know it.