Materialism & Happiness

In our society when we talk about a “rich man”; the first thing in our society which comes to mind is a rich person well advanced in his respective career owing a large size bungalow and luxurious car; in other words having money that could buy anything. Real surprise with the association to religious values in our society, still majority of us associate success with material gains an individual makes.

Man’s primary from birth till death is pursuit of happiness. His profession, his gathering of wealth, his bungalows, and his private luxurious goods all indicate his hunt of that intangible animal called happiness. Catch hold of one of the cool dudes and ask him “‘are you happy?” habitually he will answer that if he had one extra thing he would be happy. He does not realize that when that thing is in his grab he will crave for something else to experience happiness; it is a race which never ends.

So how to be happy? Will giving up of all comforts makes one happy? Give-up worldly desires? It is not that one should live a life without comforts. What we as individuals could do is stop running after those comforts. No matter how many plots one owns, at a time you can live only in one house (a small room will do); you can use only one car and sleep only on one bed. With all your wealth you may not even be able to get pleasure from your meal and the pressures and tensions of multiplying your wealth, may be eating away your insides leading to uncountable sickness.

Then why this rage for gathering? Isn’t it just to show-off to the world? If I was the only person in the world, all these gains would be worthless as there would be nobody to amaze, nobody who would be jealous of me, nobody to compete with.

Studies conducted have shown that once the basic necessities of life are fulfilled, more money doesn’t necessarily mean more happiness. Talking about my own city Karachi, a poor old city area like Kharadar or even Lyari measures its progress not by the luxurious life style but by gross happiness. Not against anyone but DHA or KDA or Clifton may go in front in terms of material wealth, but can they be called areas where people are happy?

In my modest opinion, at the individual level, this is what needs to be done. Take up a career, even a small job will do, in a field that you are interested in. work diligently, but go about your work in a peaceful and self-possessed manner. As somebody said “a career is not an end in itself but a means to creative, intellectual, monetary and physical satisfaction”. Be sure to take time off to be with your family, to observe the sunset, to help a person in need, to pursue other hobbies. Giving up these simple pleasures may mean more money but no happiness.

Don’t complain just because somebody has got hold of luxurious goods. Desire to have loads of money, driving luxurious cars, having a bigger house than others in family will not help it out. Happiness exists inside you. Just take time to dig really deep inside you to find and realize it.