Religion, Spirituality and Happiness
Human beings have sought happiness for as long as they have been in existence. Unfortunately, happiness has not been coming along. The aspects within which human beings have been seeking happiness are not genuine, and disappointments have always been coming up. For example, human beings have been going after money and earthly possessions, thinking that happiness will be obtained. Unfortunately, the insatiability nature of possessions continues to woe human beings as they seek more sources of happiness. Religion has appeared as the most credible source of happiness as people get the freedom to base their happiness on the strength of their faith. Religious and spiritual people tend to be happy than the unreligious ones, whether or not they are faking happiness, but faith takes away the unhappiness associated with have no beliefs. The purpose of this paper is to assess the association between religion and spirituality and the happiness level of an individual.
Religion and spirituality are based on social service and interaction. Human beings are social beings who find happiness in being together and handling issues together. Religion is practice in unison, and people in religion always have more extensive social networks than those outside religions. For example, religion calls for the assembly of people in a church, mosque, or even any other religious building for worship. Such meetings form an avenue where people meet new people and develop new relations. Furthermore, meeting new people offers an opportunity to find a better network for sharing life challenges hence finding credible solutions to such challenges. Moreover, religion is based on fellowship, sharing on one another’s problems as well as reaching those in need.
Most religions are based on coming together in fellowship, sharing on one another’s burdens as well as reaching to those in need. Happiness is generated in that people are not left out to struggle alone or to suffer for lacking support. Furthermore, religion and spirituality go an extra step to share on physical belongings where spiritual fellowship is not sufficient (Francis & Robbins, 2017). For example, religious organizations have been visiting children’s homes and helping the needy in society in a bid to improve the happiness level among the people. Generally, religion does not only bring happiness among the religious people but also to other people in the society who may turn out to be religious after having their lives impacted by the religious and spiritual people. Additionally, religion and spirituality are aimed at improving the relationship between an individual and God.
The belief in a supernatural God forms the basis of most religions. God is viewed as being loving and caring for His people. When an individual’s relationship with God is heightened, confidence and self-esteem come in handy, leading to a high degree of happiness. Also, worries concerning life challenges become viewer since God is expected to cater to all the challenges faced. Beyond, religious and spiritual people believe that God intervenes in times of difficulties and provides solutions where the individuals are unable to single out solutions. The belief in God, therefore, comes with a feeling of peace and calmness since all challenges are left in the hands. Besides, one of the most common causes of unhappiness is the lack of solutions to life challenges. When an individual learns that God provides solutions for the various challenges, the degree of happiness goes up, with the trust in solutions being left to God. Therefore, religion and spirituality bring happiness by having an individual trust in God for interventions concerning life difficulties. Moreover, happiness depends on the realization of the purpose of the life of an individual.
Religion and spirituality are based on the claim that God does not allow for the occurrence of an event without a purpose. The belief in God involves believing that God controls everything in the universe. Also, God is believed to have a purpose for every aspect that He allows existing in the universe. The belief that everything happens for a purpose is essential in giving people hope while going through challenges. Generally, people will be more patient upon learning that any activity happens for a purpose.
Furthermore, God is believed to have a purpose for the various life events that disturb people outside religion. For example, the death of a loved member of a family troubles people until religion comes in to explain that death is a divine plan that cannot be avoided (Frey, 2018). Therefore, it comes in when people are redeemed from multiple events that can only be explained by leaving them for God to handle. Generally, the explanations given in religion towards life events are essential in creating satisfying explanations, as well as improving the knowledge on the purpose of each occurrence. Happiness is associated with satisfaction in that people no longer worry about things that they trust God to have a purpose for them. Additionally, religion is essential in explaining the meaning of life to an individual.
One of the essential stages of happiness is the realization of the meaning of life. Individuals struggle to get a meaning of life and remain unhappy. Religion and spirituality come in handy to give meaning to the lives of people when hope seems to have faded. Life is full of challenges and suffering, and people always seek for ways to give up whenever a solution does not appear to happen. However, religion plays a crucial role in making people know that they matter and giving them a sense of hope that may not be found outside religion. Also, the explanation for hard-work only makes sense when life has got meaning. Religion, therefore, brings back happiness by making people know the meaning of their life. Furthermore, religion plays a significant role in explaining different aspects of life to human beings. For example, people are shown when and why to move on from certain situations. Also, individuals are helped to know what to pursue and what to overlook. Generally, religion removes confusion from the lives of individuals and creates a sense of organization, thus leading to happiness. Moreover, the association between religion and happiness continues to move more people into religion as they attempt to seek happiness.
Religion and spirituality are broad aspects that cannot be explained with ease. People always decide whether or not to follow a particular religion. The fact that individuals have been finding happiness on religion can be associated with the continuing conversion of people into following religion and spirituality (Allen, 2015). Besides, people should be following the footsteps of religious and spiritual people if at all, happiness comes from religion. For example, religious and spiritual people get happiness from adhering to particular standards such as going to their places of worship every Sunday, Friday, or any other day as set by the religion. Such structures form a benchmark for which people reflect on their alienation to the expectations of religion. When an individual is satisfied that they have lived according to the expectations of religion, they become happy and seek to bring more people into the happiness promised by religion. Also, the freedom of having earthly fellowships to seek divine intervention gives religious people a stronger feeling of belonging hence more happiness. The feeling of being in the race towards divinity with people who belong to similar fellowship groups brings happiness among the religious people. Furthermore, happiness in religion is a promise that comes true as one strengthens their faith in the religion.
In sum, religious and spiritual people are happier than the unreligious ones, whether or not they are faking happiness, but faith takes away the unhappiness associated with have no beliefs. Religion is based on fellowship, sharing on one another’s problems as well as reaching those in need; hence, happiness is obtained. Additionally, religion and spirituality are aimed at improving the relationship between an individual and God. Also, religion and spirituality attempt to give a purpose for every aspect with the claim that God does not allow for the occurrence of an event without a purpose. Religion and spirituality come in handy to give meaning to the lives of people when hope seems to have faded. Generally, religion and spirituality bring people closer to happiness by showing them the meaning of life and improving their relationship with God.
References
Allen, K. (2015). Religion, spirituality, and happiness.
Francis, L. J., Ok, Ü., & Robbins, M. (2017). Religion and happiness: A study among university students in Turkey. Journal of religion and health, 56(4), 1335-1347.
Frey, B. S. (2018). Happiness and Religion. In Economics of Happiness (pp. 59-62). Springer, Cham.