The quest for happiness is as old as recorded time. Moses and the tribes of Israel sought a Promised Land as they trudged through the wilderness. Modern men face a more complex wilderness than did the Hebrew leader and his people. But they have acquired enlightenment and knowledge commensurate with the task. So much so, in fact, that their quest is sometimes referred to as "modern man in search of himself."
The fact that happiness is not in a promised land "out there" but within the inmost place of man's individual consciousness, was expounded by the wisest man of all times, Christ Jesus, He knew that all good is derived from God, who is Mind, and so it is purely subjective. Because he knew this Mind to be the one Ego, Jesus declared man's oneness or unity with God to be the ultimate happiness. Thus he initiated the search for man's true selfhood as the divine image and likeness of God. "The kingdom of God is within you,"Luke 17:21; he said.
Jesus revealed a happiness beyond the illusive pleasures of human companionship, personal possessions, and material success. It was a higher happiness he offered. He proved that to know God is to know one's true self, which includes happiness.
