ON THE CONCEPT OF HAPPINESS Having spent my entire high school days inside the four corners of Saint Francis

de Sales Minor Seminary in Lipa City, I have come to believe that true happiness can only be found with God. A life detached to pleasure and material possessions, the way of monastic life, was the kind of life I used to embrace as a young seminarian. Growing up in the midst of the community of seminarians and priests, I had experienced what happiness is all about. I had learned to appreciate and live a life of simplicity with absolute contentment. Life treated me well and gave me the feeling of being where I should rightfully be, of where I am getting what I want and needing little less. I felt a higher form of happiness, a different one, far beyond those that can be derived from the influences of the outside world. It was certainly the phase of my life when I once had found happiness, a time of my life when faith and devotion was still at the center of my being. My heart is restless until it rests in Thee! As Saint Augustine has quoted, the achievement of absolute happiness does not come while a person is alive, and that yearning only ends in death. The unending quest to find what on earth can really give a man an absolute form of happiness as explained by this saint can only be found in the presence of the Almighty. Our longing and discontentment will never stop as long as we all live and walk this earth, and that it can only find an end in our graves. In the end, only God can be the source of such unending happiness. Most people are often confused between the difference of pleasure and happiness. In a way, a lot of people find it hard to distinguish one from another due to several factors that have varying degree of influence in the life of each individual. The more educated a person is the more he can have the capacity to learn the distinction between the two. In the light of the study of philosophy of man, let me share the wisdom that would shed light on the difference between pleasure and happiness. As pleasure can result from any happy experience, happiness results from an aggregate number of experiences. Happiness is built to last and cant be dashed in an instant while pleasure is transient. However intense the feeling is when one takes away the experience the pleasure ends. Prior to the discussion on this topic in this subject course, I also had that kind of confusion about it but was entirely enlightened by the study of philosophy which inspired me to seek the true meaning of happiness. As I looked back again and reexamined my life, I believed and was convinced that it was my seminary days that gave me the authentic experience of happiness. This journey of reflective insights on different topics in philosophy also brought me into realization that I had forgotten to value an important source of happiness which is my communion and intimacy with God. All this time, I have lived my life in search of pleasure and not genuine happiness for I have forgotten the fundamental source of happiness which is putting God at the center of my life. With letting God run our life by abiding His Will, one can live a happy life, a life that is blessed.