Our Unhappiness Is Not Ours Alone

The first step toward happiness is understanding that very little of the secret weight of our unhappiness is ours alone. It is the unhappiness of our tribe, our nation, our ancestors, who want us to be happy, who are pulling for our happiness, who yearn for us to prove that there can be a single courageous existential act of renunciation, by which we drop the weight, and choose happiness. Is this not the great task of the spiritual warrior? And there is help. Yes, a cloud of witnesses will help. We will not do it alone. And this is grace.