Happiness seems as though it can be achieved without one having purpose, but I doubt that such lasts long enough to live a happy life. I say this because I can picture myself being happy for a while without living with purpose, but it eventually gets, well, boring. I think anyone who needs a break can see Happiness in having nothing to look forward to. However, it is impossible to live happy without some sort of purpose. I don't mean that everyone has a purpose for living as a type of destiny dealed out at birth because no one asked to be here and not everyone has decided to live with a purpose. Having purpose or a reason to live should bring anyone happiness as long as they are living to fulfill that purpose. Although, it has to be something the self decides with reason. So if someone were to ask directly what my purpose was in life I will probably not give a straight answer. I feel I have many purposes they are not set in stone and these are all from the goals I have set for myself.
Goals are so essential to Happiness that if you fail at it the immediate effect is sadness, anger, depression, etc. Goes, like purposes, have to be decided for oneself if one truly expects Happiness. I guess that's why it's easy for the student to say they are unhappy because for many the goal is to graduate. Though graduation is the goal and you do everything to achieve the goal it doesn't mean you aren't just going through the motions. Anyhow, having a goal no matter how simple can be a crucial part to living a happy life. Some goals may take longer than others to achieve and may frustrate you, but if it does to the point where you can't find Happiness in trying to achieve it, then choose a different goal. If the road to a goal causes more pain than joy, and I mean while having a positive attitude, then it's cool to quit and find something else.
Exactly: purposeS, goalS, in the plural... and the perpetual possibility of choosing different ones as life and experience proceed. That Alan Watts monologue that Lane shared, below, in which the attainment of each goal gives way to the next and the next, until one day in late middle age it occurs to the goal-seeker to wonder what he's missed, is missing precisely this: our freedom to choose new goals FOR OURSELVES. The problem arises when we allow others to foist purposes and goals on us that are not really our own. So... good luck with YOUR goals!
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