Is our happiness too small?

A happiness that is sought for ourselves alone can never be found: for a happiness that is diminished by being shared is not big enough to make us happy.

— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island

Thomas Merton here offers a perspective on a previous post, where Frederick Buechner talks about life not being able to fill the empty place in our lives.

As I think about both statements, I think about the nature of addiction: is it not in part the seeking of happiness for ourselves alone, too small to fulfill us, but deceptively offering the hope of finally obtaining that “big present” life on its own cannot give?

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