n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 6
We can see how rights and responsibilities are connected by considering
how it is with revelation. The Lord has revealed spiritual truth for the purpose
of guiding and improving our natural lives. Our ability to apply the truth freely
and rationally, and our responsibility to do so, is implied by the truth itself.
The same God we look toward as the basis of our human rights also gives us
the responsibilities that go with them. Both the rights and the responsibilities
are distinctly human. To the extent that we are denied our rights, or shirk
the responsibilities that go with them, the quality of our humanity itself is
diminished.
(WEO)
the pursuit of happiness
When the Founding Fathers cast their vision for the rights of free people in
their Declaration of Independence they were not speaking only for Americans.
It is a “self-evident truth,” they proclaimed, that “all men [and women] are
created equal,” that they are “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
Rights, and that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
So, the “pursuit of happiness” is an absolute right, conferred by the Lord.
But that does not mean we have a “right” to be happy all the time on this earth.
It means we have a right to pursue happiness, just as we pursue and protect
freedom in our lives. It’s a crucial distinction.
Among the largest collections in any book store are self-help guides: how
to cope, how to overcome, how to change your life, how to find happiness.
These books are generally well-meaning and useful. But the ultimate self-help
books are the Word and the Heavenly Doctrine.
That is because happiness is not a general state of euphoria and is not a
goal in itself. It is not the product of possessions, wealth and stature. Rather
real happiness is a general state of contentment that comes as a side effect to a
loving and useful life. It shuns self-absorption and is free of anxiety. It speaks
to acceptance of one’s lot in life and to a general state of cheerfulness, optimism
and absolute trust in the Lord and His providence.
The pursuit of happiness is in the life that leads to heaven – a pursuit best
guided by faithfully reading the Word. That is our connection with the Lord. It
is where He can work with us in the pursuit. For this is what He wills for all of
us – “to make everyone happy to eternity.” (True Christian Religion 43)
Happiness is essentially a spiritual quality. That is why it can seem so
elusive when we pursue it on a merely natural plane. And that is why its quality
in heaven is called “ineffable” by Swedenborg – just beyond our imagination or
his words of description.
Happiness is elusive in this life because we live in freedom between heaven
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