The search for happiness

[The disciple] My parents made me a Catholic and I am trying on this path that will lead me to salvation.

[The wise man] Are you happy here now?

[The disciple] No, the hope of future happiness does not make me happy here now.

[The wise man] Do you feel fulfilled in your search?

[The disciple] In Christianity, man is born guilty, and throughout his life he remains guilty of not doing enough to save his soul; thus, happiness is not of this world. Well, I don't want to give up happiness.

[The wise man] There is not just one path to happiness, the same for everyone, because everyone must find his or her own way. If one day I stretched out my finger to show you a path, it is neither the finger nor the path that must be observed, but the procedure for determining your path.

[The disciple] I understand, I have to look for a better way.

[The disciple] He who is content to follow the tendencies of his environment renounces being himself. His personal consciousness is reduced to a reflection of his social environment. I want to question my deepest self in order to become morally independent and to have free rein to develop my own thinking. I have given up religious practices, and I am looking for a personal approach to religion.

[The wise man] Are you happy here now?

[The disciple] No, I am insecure in my faith, and I question my hope.

[The wise man] Do you feel fulfilled in your search?

[The disciple] No, I feel guilty that I don't always act perfectly.

[The wise man] And so what?

[The disciple] I understand, I have to look for a better way.

[The disciple] I have been filled with the wisdom of the New Age, and I feel connected to the whole universe.

[The wise man] Are you happy here now?

[The disciple] No, but the Age of Aquarius will come and overwhelm me with happiness.

[The wise man] Do you feel fulfilled in your search?

[The disciple] No, everyday life doesn't satisfy me.

[The wise man] And so what?

[The disciple] I understand, I have to look for a better way.

[The disciple] Faith consists in desiring things whose existence is unverifiable and improbable, such as eternal life and the perfect happiness of paradise, and then declaring, against all plausibility, that all this is assured. I have emancipated myself from the beliefs that have been instilled in me, and I have distanced myself from religions. From now on, I am an agnostic.

[The wise man] Are you happy here now?

[The disciple] No, because hope has become a mere possibility.

[The wise man] Do you feel fulfilled in your search?

[The disciple] No, because guilt remains as a possibility, therefore as a permanent feeling.

[The wise man] And so what?

[The disciple] I understand, I have to look for a better way.

[The disciple] I stopped hoping for the Paradise obtained artificially by self-suggestion. To tend towards serenity, one must free oneself from the fear of death. Religions were blackmailing me about what would happen after death, so I freed myself from religious beliefs. The de-dramatisation of existence is a measure of mental hygiene. You have to pay more attention to life than to myths. In order to remove obstacles to happiness, one must fight fears that relate to imaginary or unproven things such as the fear of hell. I have become an atheist. I have thus freed myself from the fear of the Last Judgement (or of reincarnation into an inferior being) and I have stopped trembling.

[The wise man] Are you happy here now?

[The disciple] No, but I feel much better. After the relief, I have reached a permanent state of lightness. The frustrations come from a lack of adaptation to the world as it is, and I have to accept what is inevitable. Unrealistic expectations are a source of disappointment. On the other hand, we have to focus on what depends on us. When I am unhappy with my life, it is usually possible to correct the course of my life, but only if I have the courage to make the necessary effort. If you don't do everything you think is desirable, you do what you can do, but it would be better to better define what you really want, and to stick to it with perseverance in the long run. In order to go far, you have to move in the same direction for a long time.

[The wise man] Do you feel fulfilled in your search?

[The disciple] Yes, because I have understood that we must seek happiness here now. Life is an opportunity that we must seize every moment: to love, to learn, to understand, to build, ... I want to apply myself to love life in its finiteness and to think that being ephemeral is a quality. It is a real spiritual work to open one's heart to appreciate the present moment in a constantly renewed way.

[The wise man] And so what?

[The disciple] In order to progress without wandering, I want to feel in harmony with my deepest aspirations, free of fantasies and utopias, but without harming the need to build a life project, and move forward sustainably in the same direction, without losing sight of my relationship with others. It is better to remain constructive because, when you make a retrospective judgment on your life, there is generally more to regret among what you have not done than among what you have done.
I have made a lot of progress in my spiritual path and I have found a path that suits me.