Happiness - Values Education for Children and Young Adults

aradise, Heaven, Aquarius, El Dorado, the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Allah, Utopia, Vaikunth, the Fields of Osiris, and the Golden Age are names by which a world of peace, purity, and prosperity has been remembered. In such a place, each human being is like a flower, a country like a bouquet of flowers, and the world like a garden of flowers. The sun, the sustainer, shines upon the garden with golden rays, flooding it with newness and nobility. The Gate of Happiness stands open, welcoming the human family to the Golden Garden. In the past, the world was such a garden. It will become that again. Simply to have that faith is cause for celebration.

At present, many question the purpose of life. Some are tired of living, others have lost hope. Some make effort to earn wealth, believing that will bring happiness. Some who have wealth may not have health, and that causes unhappiness. Some choose certain professions, believing that will give happiness. Others seek happiness through relationships. Yet, however much happiness such measures may bring, they are temporary and limited sources of the material world, and in many instances, they bring equal amounts of sorrow and unhappiness.

Such inability to hold onto pure and lasting happiness results from bankruptcy of spiritual values and powers. Awareness and application of spiritual truths provide the true source of happiness. Through the power of truth there is wealth, and through the power of peace there is health. Together they give happiness. Like a tonic, spiritual knowledge makes the hopeless ones hopeful. Pure happiness returns to anyone who seeks such new and hopeful horizons. Important things forgotten are remembered. The feeling can be compared to returning home - as you see the trees and smell the breeze, you know you are nearing something close to your heart!

The warmth and comfort of happiness is hidden within the self. When individuals turn within and take strength from the internal powers of peace and silence, they revive their virtues and allow the mercury of happiness to rise. The soul becomes open to the secrets of how to live in an interdependent way without becoming a victim of the material world which by its very nature robs people of their happiness. The vault of spiritual knowledge holds treasures on how to live and act with truth. True actions are pure, and purity is the mother of happiness and comfort. True actions bring strength and happiness to the self and pleasure to others. Spiritual treasures include guidelines on how to reform character and activity. For many, self-progress and personal transformation are keys that unlock the Gate of Happiness.

People speak of peace of mind. Happiness of mind is a state of peace in which there is no upheaval or violence. Peace within the self creates faith in the intellect. The flute of happiness plays softly and constantly in the minds of those who have such faith. No matter how adverse or challenging a situation may be, there is fearlessness, for the power of faith gives the guarantee of ultimate victory. As the intellect becomes enlightened by spiritual wisdom, there are less mood swings and doubts in the heart. An individual becomes better able to pay off debts of pain and sorrow while maintaining a healthy account of happiness. In a world where all relationships have accounts of happiness and sorrow, the greatest lesson to be learned about being happy is: " Give happiness and take happiness, don't give sorrow and take sorrow. "

Happiness is prosperity which comes from self-sovereignty. Self- sovereignty means being master over the mind, intellect, personality traits, and physical senses of the body; being complete with all powers and virtues; and attaining a perfect balance between masculine and feminine characteristics. There is that state of perfection within each human soul. On the spiritual quest in search of such perfection, the intellect goes through a process of discovering its divine nature.

Happiness does not carry a price tag. It cannot be bought, sold, or bargained for. Happiness is earned by those whose actions, attitude, and attributes are pure and selfless. In other words, the quality of the consciousness and activities of individuals determines the richness of life.

However, social, economic, and political stability are cited as sources of happiness and enjoyment in life. Yet, whenever any one of those areas is in disarray, the mercury of happiness in people drops. When all resources are focused on socioeconomic infrastructure at the expense of the development of the spiritual and moral character of the people, then priorities in life are misrepresented and there is a gradual erosion of happiness. Moral and spiritual values help reassess priorities and allow for proactive and preventive measures to take place at opportune moments.

The road to happiness is paved with golden opportunities. Each footstep taken on this journey is guaranteed a return of multimillions. The actions performed along the way become the pen to draw the lines of fortune. There is a greater share of happiness when individuals walk the path together, and through collective actions, draw the lines of fortune on the living landscape of the world.

"Looking at that future of fears and hopes, one cannot eternally remain in the hesitant posture of Hamlet, vacillating between 'to be' and 'not to be.' The future of justice and peace must be conquered by work, by patience, by vigorous enthusiasm, by constant energy, but over and above all by strengthening the moral fibre and force of mankind which this Assembly embodies."

Mr. Leopoldo Benites,
President of the Twenty-Eighth Session OF the UN General Assembly,
September, 1973

The Value Statements are drawn from Living Values: A Guidebook, a publication of the Brahma Kumaris. These were used by Living Values Education as part of the conceptualization and consultative process during the initial meeting with UNICEF in New York in August of 1996.