Everyday Canvas

On Happiness and the Sun

Prompt: "To be kind to all, to like many and love a few, to be needed and wanted by those we love, is certainly the nearest we can come to happiness." Mary Stuart, Queen Of Scots What are your views about this?

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This is all nice and very good, but how much does it have to do with true happiness, rather happiness with meaning?

Granted, an above-described individual has lasting, positive interactions and his or her need to belong is satisfied. This is all good and possibly a step toward happiness.

In my case, however, I am the happiest when I am doing something I like, whatever that may be at any given moment. I am also at my happiest during the times of solitude when I can get in touch with myself. Still, would I want solitude all the time? Definitely no. And in the same vein, would I want to be around people, even the people I love, all the time? Again, no. Thus, a good proportion is what is needed to feel happy, most of the time.

Even so, happiness being the goal of life seems lacking to me. There is something there that doesn’t correspond with the needs of human nature. This reminds me of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, in which the hero escaped from paradise to live in a risky world where he had a choice of effort to make a difference. More meaning exists in a world of suffering, suspense, and humanness.

Thus, I think a meaningful life, rather than an always happy one, should be the ultimate goal for mankind. Striving toward something, working against injustice, and bettering oneself and the lives of others make people who they are. After all, one can be stupid, ignorant, lazy, and happy.

Prompt: As you go through your day, how much do you think of the existence of the sun? Do you love it or do you hate it? Do you think at one time or another it can be a threat to earth’s existence? And what about the time when humans worshipped it?

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I have never really given a thought to the existence of the sun. It just is. It is there.

Still, I have to love the sun or at least, like it. Without it, none of us would be alive. I don’t much care for its hot, scorching effect during its hottest time in summer when its rays hit directly on us with more force than it does during the winter months.

Sun as a symbol means warmth, joy, ease, color, and fullness. It can also symbolize intellect, understanding, glory, and fame. A ray of sunshine, for example, may mean a sudden grasp of a situation or a piece of happy news.

Sun is the star of hot plasma which aids life and it is our ultimate source of energy for life. The effects of the sun on our being has been recognized since prehistoric times, even to the degree of it being worshipped as a deity. Yet, it is not a deity but just a star with electromagnetic properties, providing a weak tidal effect on the planets around it as it is the largest object around us. It is estimated that it has had the power to stay active for about five billion years with five billion more years of possible life. That’s good to know!

But if it expands or dies down, I’m sure it will be a threat to the earth’s and other planets’ existence.