The Four Levels of Happiness
one
The Four Levels of Happiness
God created us for happiness. All people want to be happy, In fact, happiness is the purpose of life. So, what brings true and lasting happiness?
Fr. Robert Spitzer does a great job of summarizing Four Levels of Happiness.
The first level of happiness we seek is the desire for physical goods things like food and drink, good health, sexual pleasure and the desire to procreate, and those things that give safety and security.
Level one represents our fundamental desires for physical pleasure, immediate gratification, and excitement. This may be manifested in seeking my favorite food, a good whiskey, a nice home or a second home, or the desire to travel and experience new things.
The “happiness” that results from these good things, however, is typically short lived, shallow, and impacts no one else except me.
Level 1 is not inherently bad, we all need to satisfy the basic need for physical goods like food and drink, but if we get stuck in level 1 our lives become a roller coaster constantly of gaining and losing what we are seeking. After the food is consumed, or the show or the travel is over, it isn’t long before I am hungry, thirsty or bored again.
How much of your life is taken up with trying to get level one happiness?
two
The 2nd Level of happiness is sought in Personal Achievement or whatever I need to create my identity or self-worth.
I might seek my identity and worth through a profession or through my family and children.
This desire prompts us to feel the need to be constantly achieving and winning in our life. For example, being recognized at work, getting that next promotion, or making sure my project has top priority.
In order for me to win, though, I also need others to lose.
I must keep my competitive advantage over others.
My focus is on power and control.
Like level 1, level 2 is not all bad. God designed us to achieve good things and we were also designed to derive satisfaction from meaningful work. God made us this way. But, if my life gets stuck in level 2 as my dominant source of happiness, I will be constantly obsessed with seeking that next win, and paranoid that others are trying to keep me from it.
This problem with seeking our happiness at this level is that we are always working to make ourselves relevant; we settle for pursuing happiness in things that are very short lived; which means we become slaves to pursuing more and more of them.
Worst of all we create a living hell for ourselves because we live the “Comparison Game.” In comparison to others, I need to be better, be on top, I need to win. That results in isolation, loneliness, resentment, fear of losing, a suspicion of others, depression, envy and anger.
How have you tried to find your happiness in achievements, in winning, or through your kids?
three
Level three is where we strive to contribute to the good of others and the good of the world.
It's where we ask: “What is the greatest good I can do with my gifts and talents?”
At level three we know our identity and self-worth is a gift from God. We are not seeking our personal value through achievements or personal attributes or our children. We are past needing to make a name for ourselves or leave our mark in the world.
Now we want to use our skills and talents to contribute to the good of others and to do it for the love of God.
It is still about excellence and winning, but it’s now more about achieving Win-Win results rather than Win-Lose.
How are you going to use your life for the good of others?
Don’t overlook that which is right in front of you.
Moms and dads are contributing the greatest good to the world and the kingdom of God by having and raising excellent humans for the world. The best thing we can do for the world is to be laser focused on the good health of our marriages, our own holiness and fostering faith and virtue in our kids and grandkids.
God put you here for a purpose, to fulfill your unique personal mission. God wants you to make the world a better place.
four
Level 4 is what we ultimately seek in life – Union with God, the Supreme, Perfect, Infinite and Everlasting Good.
Don’t misunderstand. Level 1,2 and 3 are good…but,
· Nothing is Perfect
· Nothing is Lasting
· Nothing is Enough
o I desire MORE
We were made for union with God
· To share in, drink in, swim in His
· Divine, Perfect, Everlasting and Infinite Life
That is why only God can satisfy our desires in a way that is
· Perfect, Everlasting and Infinite
· He is the Living Water that satisfies every good desire
Level 1,2 and 3 – all the good things in life are like cups
· God is the Living Water that needs to fill the cups of our life
We need the cups - But without out God, the cups are empty
Then we are unsatisfied with our spouse, our house, our job, our health, and wealth and everything else. But to the degree that we possess God, that is the level that our cups will be filled. In proportion to our union with God will be our happiness with everything else in our life. God is the Living Water that can fill up every area of life so that we can be satisfied.
Are you allowing God time to fill you up?
five
Since real happiness begins at level 3 and 4, we need to build some habits to reach them.
The 1st Habit is Daily Meditation.
Thinking creates the right desires and the right desires prompt the right actions.
So, think about what you really want - union with God and to do some good for the world and for others.
This will create the desire for God and to do some contributive good, prompting the right choices.
That is why it is so important to think of level three and four in daily meditation and end each mediation with a resolution.
The 2nd Habit is Determination
When you find you have slipped back into making level 1 and 2 your ultimate happiness, don’t become discouraged. Your life is not like Sisyphus who could never make progress because the rock fell back upon him as he climbed the hill.
The myth is not true.
With every effort toward levels three and four we make progress.
When we fall, the rock will roll back but only a few feet, so actually you are getting higher each time. Get up, dust off and go back to the rock. You’re not starting from the bottom again. Keep going and you will make it.
How can you better use your meditation to grow closer to Jesus and experience the happiness He wants to give you?