Love and Compassion is the Key to Happiness

[icy]

Do you agree that we are all, social animals? Without human friendship, without the human smile, our lives become miserable. The loneliness becomes unbearable. Such human interdependence is a natural law--that is to say, according to natural law, we depend on others to live. If, under certain circumstances, because something is wrong inside us, our attitude toward our fellow human beings on whom we depend becomes hostile, how can we hope to attain peace of mind or a happy life? According to basic human nature or natural law, interdependence--giving and receiving affection--is the key to happiness.

[WisdomBeing]

i do tend to agree with this to a certain extent. I am a very social animal and i love the presence of people (nice ones that is - no hostiles, thanks very much) but i do often wonder if i am being selective. I mean, shouldn't i be equally okay with people who are nasty and those who are nice. Surely, those who are nasty need my compassion and love also. I take nasty people as my practice - to practice true love and compassion towards them, even though it doesn't always work and they still p*ss me right off at times, but work in progress i say.

Also another aspect to this is - what of the monks and nuns who go into solitary retreat for years... they don't see anyone or interact with them. To me, this means that we are (or should be) above needing human companionship, and we should strive to be able to be alone also. Perhaps there is no difference between being alone and being with others - yet another form of equanimity?

[RedLantern]

Love and happiness are both states of mind that can be manipulated and altered.The words have no meaning,it is that we are personally attached to them. Happiness is something everyone wants to have.Life is meaningless without happiness.Our happiness is our decision to make,happiness is a choice.
We learn how to express more through everything we do.There are thousands of ways we can love others,but our connection to love itself grows stronger through prayers for the welfare of all,and meditation on subjects related to virtuous life.

[Midakpa]

Love and compassion are two of the four immeasurables that we need to develop. In fact, in order to develop bodhicitta, we need to start with equanimity which is a balanced attitude towards others, free of feelings of attachment, aversion or indifference. Then we generate love for all mother sentient beings wishing the to have happiness and the causes of happiness. It is said that if we make cherishing others our main practice, we will develop a mind of great compassion and as a result we will eventually come to enjoy the ultimate happiness of full enlightenment. Thus, having developed cherishing love for all living beings, we should contemplate the suffering of others so that we can generate compassion for them. We contemplate the suffering of beings in the six realms and wish that they can be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. Love and compassion are methods to develop bodhicitta and of course ultimate happiness.

[pgdharma]

As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery and the key to happiness is inner peace, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness. With these thoughts of compassion and love, we may then turn our thoughts to take some responsibility to actually try to help others.  This helps us to gain the strength and courage to tackle not only the problems of others, but our own as well.

Compassion and love are not something that is gained far off in the future after much meditation high up on mountaintops, it's something that needs to be cultivated through contact and interactions with fellow human beings, in our families, relationships and communities. All life is interdependent. Therefore the happiness of one individual depends upon that of others.