The need for ladders

You know, there is this strange problem with everything that we are told is priceless. Especially those things which you are supposed to aspire for. It is all fine to say you should try to be good, to be loving etc etc and that a content happiness is the goal worth achieving. But, drat it, the bleeding things are all so nebulous.

I mean, ever traveled in a featureless plain to a destination? You keep motoring on, with no sign whether you are actually progressing towards where you are heading of traveling around in circles or, like on a treadmill, running to stay in the same place. (Or, like me, huffing and puffing up the mountain trail asking the guide plaintively every fifteen minutes "How much farther?" Yes)

It would be nice to see a signpost every now and then saying "30 miles to Happiness", say, and then when the next one says "29 miles to Happiness" you know you are on your way. But whether you are chasing an improvement in empathy or in affection or, indeed, happiness, no such signposts seems to show up. And, whatever you think are signs of progress, you seem to be slipping down three steps for every one you take.

So, is it a wonder that you try to break down this quest for happiness into things that are measurable? Where you can actually work out if you are progressing? Like, say, money in the bank, ascent up the corporate ladder yada yada? Then you can say, "Ah! I was two steps up last year. I am three steps up now."

Feedback...that's the word I want. You need to perpetually get positive feedback about your progress, so that you keep at it. And ladders provide them. So, essentially, you shift over from a quest for happiness to a quest for success, and climb up the corporate ladder, a social ladder and what have you. Maybe the Armanis and Guccis provide pleasure of their own. Even if not, what they do is provide you tangible assurance about how far up the ladder you are...and, more importantly, enable you to show to others how far up you are without having to work it into your conversation.

Being good? Well, that's what gets broken down to rituals and modes of behavior. Have I visited the temple or church this often? Have I prayed or not every day? Do I eat this, drink that...I mean, easily measurable things, right? Being good or, even, just being is such a nebulous thing to measure. Easier by far to measure and control actions than thoughts and emotions. Not bad, as it goes, Karma Yoga and all (though that, incidentally, is more about how you mentally approach your life than just what you do), till it reaches a point where you decide that what you should measure your goodness by is in how many other people you have influenced or coerced into following your way.

Anyway, climb ladders if you will if that is what you think leads to happiness. And pray you never reach the end of it for as long as you live!