seeking pleasure
not long ago, i read this story in a magazine: there was once a group of young people searching everywhere for pleasure but what they got was only annoyance , melancholy and torture.
so they turned to socrates for advice on where pleasure lay. but instead of giving any answers, socrates asked them to help with building a boat first. the group of guys had to set about the task, laying aside their own business of seeking pleasure. it took them a long time to cut down a tall tree, gouging out the center. through painstaking effort, they made a canoe out of the tree. they launched the canoe into a river, and then rowed together in it, singing with joy.
socrates asked: “my children, do you have pleasure now?” they answered in chorus: “we couldn’t be happier!” socrates added, “that’s it! whenever you are too busy pursuing something definite to notice anything bitter, pleasure will occur.”
from the story i got to know that pleasure always hides behind every tiny thing that you are engaged in, and that you may only get pleasure through hard work and creativity.
it also tells us that we might have no alternative but to experience some pain in our daily life and in the process of seeking pleasure, or sometimes tend to look for pleasure in material things, like a new car, clothes, etc, but true long term pleasure comes from within our soul and spirit. so why not turn suffering into praising life, and turn tears into the light in your heart, only in this way can we make it through and hold the magical spark to light the fire of life.
so my dear friends, just remember pleasure is a state of mind and a matter of choice, and i wish you all a life of pleasure.
尋找快樂
前幾天，我在一份雜誌上看到一則這樣的故事：一羣年輕人到處尋找快樂，卻遇到許多煩惱，憂愁和痛苦。
他們向蘇格拉底請教，快樂到底在哪裏?蘇格拉底沒有立即給他們答案，而是讓他們先幫助造一艘船。這幫年輕人暫時把尋找快樂的事兒放到一邊，開始這項工作。他們花了很長時間鋸倒了一棵又高又大的樹，挖空樹心，造出了一條獨木船。獨木船下水了，他們一邊合力蕩漿，一邊齊聲快樂的唱起歌來。
蘇格拉底問：“孩子們，你們快樂嗎?”他們齊聲回答：“快樂極了!”蘇格拉底道：“快樂就是這樣，它往往在你爲着一個明確的目的忙的無暇顧及其他的時候突然來訪。”
從這個故事當中我知道了，快樂隱藏在你用心做的每一件小事當中，透過我們的努力和創造，才能得到快樂。
它還告訴我們，在生活中和追求快樂的過程中，可能無法避免會遇到一些痛苦，人們往往把快樂建立在對物質的'追求上，像一輛新車，新衣服，等等。但真正意義上的快樂應該是從精神上得到的。爲什麼不把痛苦錘鍊成對生命的讚揚，把眼淚作爲心靈的燈盞呢?只有這樣纔會真正尋找到快樂，一展生命中燦爛的光澤!
朋友們，請記住：快樂是一種心態，也是一種選擇，我祝願大家一生快樂!