The reason most people are not happy and are seeking happiness, says Venerable Fulton Sheen, is that they want to be happy in their own way and without a purchase price.
Poets, philosophers, and theologians have known this reality for centuries, but a dissonance has become more apparent and acute in our post-modern era, as more and more Americans and Europeans reject the importance of religion, especially since World War II.
In the late 1940s and 1950s, the economy was booming; cities were rapidly expanding; more Americans and Europeans had access to higher education; many American and European households owned new suburban homes and appliances; most of these same households had vehicles and extra discretionary income.
Observing this cultural unease, Venerable Fulton Sheen understood the problem and sought to bring the principles of faith and religion back into the conversation. In 1953, he wrote a brief article, simply titled "Contentment," which became the first chapter of his aptly named book, The Way to Happiness.
In it, the philosopher identifies four causes of discontent.
The first was selfishness, which we also know as pride. The next three are envy, covetousness, and jealousy. These three causes are similar enough that we can include them all under envy.
Thus, pride and envy, the two capital sins most difficult to uproot from life, were the two greatest obstacles to human contentment. Throughout his writing and preaching career, which spanned more than half a century (from 1920 to 1979), Sheen taught again and again that pride and envy are mitigated particularly by the virtue of humility. The virtue of religion, closely linked to humility, consists in rendering to God what is due to Him, before seeking what can be had for oneself. These lessons remain relevant nearly seven decades after he wrote them.
Then, in an article with an even simpler title, "Happiness" – which was published posthumously in the 1982 book On Being Human – Sheen reminded readers that "happiness is conditioned by two things: an overall purpose in life and, secondly, the crushing of selfishness and self-centeredness."
The first condition, the "overall purpose," he defined as the pursuit of a "life goal" that "would satisfy the highest spheres of personality." "Life," he continued, "is not satisfied by three extra days of life, but by endless immortality."
Simply put, he meant the fulfillment of all desires in Heaven, something that mid-20th century scholars, experts, and artists had missed or forgotten.
His second condition flows from the first. The ego must be submitted to the plans of the divine Other if we are to achieve the goal we seek. It is always necessary to remove the self, the ego, from primacy. Sheen does not mince words on this point:
"As long as the ego or selfishness remains by which we assert our pleasure over others, we are consumed by an inner unhappiness."
Without such a disposition of self, lasting happiness cannot take root. This reality has not changed from the time the good Bishop wrote until the moment the life satisfaction survey was conducted and published in 2022.
Concluding his commentary, Sheen noted the contrast between the Christian disciple and the one who follows the broad road of modernity. "But even though it is difficult," he said, "there is a peace and a joy in the pursuit of divine happiness that the selfish person cannot understand."
For a person to be happy, content, and satisfied with life, the "balloon of our selfishness" must be "punctured," making room for an "influx of light and love." This light and love cannot be obtained, in their fullness, except by following Jesus's Beatitudes and following Our Lord in His walk to Calvary to give His own life for the good of others. This is the essence of the Christian moral life.
Sheen knew the human moral condition as well as or better than anyone. "Everyone wants to be happy," he wrote. This includes the rich as well as the poor, people of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds, liberals as well as conservatives.
Yet, the "pastor of America" explained why some people do not find happiness as easily, whether in the 1950s or the 2020s:
"The reason most people are not happy is that they want to be happy in their own way and without a purchase price. As paradoxical as it may seem, happiness begins when the ego dies."
That is, they prostrate themselves before the altar of self.
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Now that we have the answer to the ultimate question, let us devote some time and effort to having our own balloons of selfishness pierced by God's grace. Let us stop prostrating ourselves before the altar of self.
The world and our homes will be better and happier places because of this effort.
This article was originally published by the National Catholic Register (Article Link). It is republished and translated with the author's permission.