Happiness as a condition of pleasurable enjoyment that depends on personal and variable definitions is very prominent in human thought today. Many people would agree that such happiness is of a somewhat ephemeral nature, resembling the prophet Hosea's "morning cloud" and "early dew" that soon vanish.Hos. 13:3. But still it is more or less feverishly sought.
Mrs. Eddy, who discovered Christian Science and presented it to mankind through her book Science and Health, cautions against the indulgence of selfish pleasure-seeking in these wise words: "Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real enjoyment."Science and Health, pp. 60-61.
In its highest sense, happiness is a spiritual state of consciousness. Unless what we call happiness rests on this basis, it cannot be dependably experienced in daily life. Proportionately to our ability to put happiness on a spiritual basis, we begin to recognize what is actually promotive of lasting felicity—and, conversely, what is merely a will-o'-the-wisp, an elusive object of desire that may lure its pursuer into the foggy swamps of frustration and misery.
