By: Geraldo Goulart

“In general terms, it is possible to affirm that happiness is a Utopia, whose conquest has been striven after by successive generations without their ever having been able to reach their objective. If the sensible man or woman is a rarity in the world, then the absolutely happy person has never been found.”

The Gospel According to Spiritism – chapter V.

 

The film “In pursuit of happiness”, starring Will Smith, discusses the true story of a humble man, full of personal problems, who, like most of us, seeks to overcome all obstacles to achieve his goal. He learned that the way to happiness was to win in life through work and perseverance instead of luck (it does not exist!).

We believe that all know many people who are also in search of happiness. It is even possible that at this point, we ourselves are … But what is happiness?

So much has been written and speculated on happiness; it has been trivialized to the point of being compared to the “luck”. In fact, if we ask several people what is happiness for them, we hear an answer that it would be “win” something or a lot of money. In this context, the verb “to gain” relates to the luck factor.

Understanding that this subject is relevant to most people and also that clarification can heal the feeling of anguish, dissatisfaction and the feeling of unhappiness of people, several spiritual friends inspired Kardec to treat this subject in THE BOOK OF SPIRITS.

In The Book of Spirits, item 920, Kardec asks the entity if it was possible for man to enjoy perfect happiness upon the earth. The Spirit’s answer, as usual, is crystal clear and flawless: “No; for corporeal life has been appointed to him either as a trial or an expiation; but it depends upon himself to lighten the evils of his lot, and to render it as happy as life can be upon the earth.”

As can be understood, life on the planet should not be assumed as a winning ticket that offers us only

pleasures, satisfactions and rest. Notwithstanding, life provide us the opportunity to ease the difficulties and pave the way. The effort expended to achieve the condition to savor the happiness, even though relative, will only be successfully crowned if we are diligent, persevering, even obstinate.

The character portrayed by Will Smith, we repeat, is real and still can be counted in the number of those on Earth. A black US citizen abandoned by his wife who could not bear the financial condition in which they lived, which he was criticized for having spent all the money he had saved for the purchase of machinery which could not resell. She goes out and leaves him; he has the responsibility to finish rearing his son, still a child. But he is undeterred and says to himself that he will overcome.

Returning to Kardec, on item 921 the he asks: “We can conceive that man will be happy upon the earth when the human race shall have been transformed; but, meanwhile, is it possible for each man to ensure for himself a moderate amount of happiness?.”  Then the entity replies: “The more often that man is the architect of his own misfortune. Practicing the law of God he is saved from the evils and reaches such a great happiness behaves as a rough existence.”

Note that the entity doesn’t even considers the question about the possibility to achieve a relative happiness. Going in the opposite direction, remembers that it is man who erects his own unhappiness. But one might ask, is that really so?

If you, the reader, is one of those people who wonder about why are not happy, analyze yourself, your acts and behavior, and try to identify the cause of what you believe is the engine of your suffering, your anguish, your unhappiness. After an honest assessment, try to answer, if you caused or not, your troubles which have come to this point.

Ah, yes, the film has a happy ending. It’s worth watching it to see the his perseverance end in victory.

SPIRITIST DOCTRINE IS LIFE. STUDY KARDEC’S BOOKS!

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I hope you enjoyed the article by our friend in Brazil, Geraldo Goulart. He has written for Spiritist Publications in Brazil and now he is translating some of his article for us!

To learn more about your trials on earth and why they may seem difficult, but are actually presented to us for our own good, read my book, The Problem is the Solution.