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Very true. Assume that the purpose of your life is to create a new technological breakthrough, to raise a child into a level-headed adult, to write the Great American Novel, or to learn mysterious truths about the world. Assume any of these, pursue them: you'll find happiness.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Life is kaleidoscopic by nature, not ordered, and it's arrogance to assume the Earth is made for us when it's obvious it's trying to kill us in a million different ways. Once you realize it's always all about survival, you realize you're doing pretty good.

Average Middle Class people now days are living better than Kings did hundreds of years ago.

George Orwell was a very negative man and is only required reading because the Fifties were a very angst-ridden decade. Even the US Constitution spells out the right to the "pursuit of happiness" and was coming from the Founding Fathers who collectively were a much more positive bunch than Orwell, who is vastly overrated. There can be no other purpose or goal than happiness, whether that is fully achievable or not;it should be your ideal for others even when or if your own happiness is thwarted, as a matter of principle, in other words an Ideal, and only bitter people begrudge happiness to others if their own happiness is thwarted. Sadness would hardly be a worthy goal so that, if we speak in terms of Goals, it seems that it would be hypocritical to settle on anything other than happiness as a general principle.

I think it's as backwards as it sounds. I find it's not UNTIL you realize you can cultivate happiness that you devote any attention or effort toward it. Otherwise it's like saying you can never get buff if getting buff is your goal. No. It's nonsense.

I do respect and understand all the opinions expressed here, but personally I believe that a man seeking happiness as his top priority is more likely than not to get it.

It's been said that "Happiness is not a goal to be obtained, but rather a process." I think that's pretty much the case.

It has the ring of truth to it. If being happy is all we think about,we overlook other important things. There are bigger things than ourselves.

content by comforts leads to a smiling baby

I think it's another sweeping generalisation.

"The nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin' away."