HAPPINESS

In life there is only one duty,
And that is the duty of happiness
This is the reason for our being here
But all our duties,
Moral codes,
And regulations,
Do not make us happy
And we seldom make each other happy.
If man is to be good
He can only be so
When he is happy,
When he carries harmony within,
In other words, when he loves.
This is the Teaching
The only Teaching in the world;
Taught by Jesus Christ
The one taught by Buddha
And Taught by Hegel, too.
For each one of us, the most important thing in the world
Is his inmost being,
His soul,
His ability to love.
If this is in good order,
You can eat cake or crusts,
Wear jewels or rags,
And the world will ring in purity with the soul,
Will be good,
Will be in good order.

An excerpt from the essay, "Happiness" by Hermann Hesse