of spirit.

This desire for happiness is good, for it leads us through innumerable
experiences so that the soul can realize, by practical experience,
the emptiness of all self-seeking, and thus learn wisdom. After
running the whole gamut of experience the soul learns at last that
happiness is not something that can be found by seeking it, but is
an inward mental state.

Although work, well done, brings a quiet sense of satisfaction, and
success in one's career may also be a source of gratification for
a short time, yet even these cannot satisfy the deep longing of the
soul.

Happiness, however, is to be found in service. Not if we seek
happiness in service, and serve in order to be happy, but if we serve
others for the sake of serving we find the only happiness that will
endure and satisfy.

One has only to observe the lives of those who are always selfishly
seeking and grabbing, who are hard in their dealings, and always
"looking after number one," in order to see how impossible it is for
self-seekers to be happy. It does not matter whether they acquire
riches or remain poor--they are equally unhappy. In contrast to this,
you have only to go out of your way to do a kind and perfectly
disinterested action and experience the glow of sheer happiness that
it brings, in order to realize that you are dealing with a law of
life that is as sure and unalterable as the law of gravitation.

There must be a purpose in life, and this must have for its object
the betterment of the lives of others, either few or many. The law
of service must be obeyed, otherwise there can be no happiness. This
may fill some readers with dismay, for they may be employed in an
occupation that apparently does no good to anybody. They may feel
that if they were engaged in some noble enterprise for the uplift
of humanity, then they could truly serve, but in their present
occupation this is impossible. To think thus is very natural, yet
the truth is we can all obey the law of service, and can begin now,
in our present occupation, no matter what it may be. We have only