Let me begin with this: What makes a cow happy? I’ve been around cows, and I can tell you one thing. When a cow is being a cow, the cow is the happiest. When is an alligator happy? Being an alligator. You can put a diamond— laced chain on the neck of that alligator, put lipstick on it, tie it onto a very expensive chair, and say, “You look beautiful.” But the alligator doesn’t really care about those things. It just wants to be an alligator; it just wants to do the alligator thing— whatever that is. Being a cat is what makes a cat happy. Being a dog is what makes a dog happy. So what is it that makes the human being happy? The question is: what makes you happy? Before you answer that, keep one thing in mind. The alligator is not dependent on anything else— just being itself is what makes it happy. For the cat it is being a cat. It would be a sad day if your happiness depended on someone else or something else. If it did, you’re in trouble. Now your life is dedicated not to enjoying happiness, but to having that person around who makes you happy or preserving that situation that makes you happy.
