Pursuit of Happiness
For our first special talk of the semester, John gave a message on the Pursuit of Happiness. The seniors started the night with a comical skit, where one person tried to pursue happiness through getting an iPhone, getting all the likes and friends on Facebook, but then finding these things to be unsatisfactory.
John then showed through several movie clips and videos about how we’re all on that pursuit to be happy, yet we’re not very sure about how to find it. In essence, maybe we need to rethink happiness. He guided us through Ecclesiastes, where King Solomon pursued happiness through several means – from wealth to his industrial work – only to see everything as essentially meaningless and nothing new under the sun. John also compared our pursuit of happiness to the board game Life, and how at the end of Life is retirement. However, we were challenged to think if this is really all there is to life.
As many students are on that pursuit during college, we might wonder if there is more to life, and what is the better strategy to life. John shared that true happiness is often found in the loss of self, which we get a hint of when we are lost in laughter, in nature, or when listening to beautiful music.
He then quoted C.S. Lewis, who said that you can't get second things by putting them first; you get second things only by putting first things first. John noted that happiness is not meant to be pursued because happiness is the “second thing” that comes after putting God first. It’s when we lose ourselves in the worship of God and seek after Him first, when we are finally able to find true happiness.
Afterwards, we split up into our classes and spent time together at different homes. We hope you can join us for our next special talk!