Because there is pain, there is pleasure. Because there is happiness, there is sorrow. Because there are thick clouds, there is clear sky. The Buddha said, "Because this is, that is." Padikka-Samupaddha, the central doctrine of Buddhism, is not just interdependence, but interdependence of opposites.
To claim that one who knows bliss cannot feel sorrow, is false spirituality. To claim that, as long as others are in pain, I am not entitled to be happy, is delusion.
If you insist that by adding your own sorrow to the world's sorrow you will alleviate it, then by all means choose unhappiness. But know that your unhappiness is a choice. And so is your happiness.
Voltaire wrote, "I choose to be happy because it is good for my health." Yet when we cling to the notion that we must be happy, we create more suffering. In the Sutra on Mindfulness of Breathing (Satipatana Sutta), Buddha taught that the final practice is letting go of ideas, even the idea of happiness.
This world is a mystery that will never be solved until we embrace both left and right, above and below, with open arms and open palms, not clinging to one or the other. We are here to surrender at the center of the Cross.
Now dance under the full moon, bathing in darkness and light!
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