The Search for Happiness

There was a man who decided that life was not as it should be for him. In fact, truth to tell it was not good at all. He decided that his life was empty and shallow. He was surrounded by people who really did not care for him at all. He decided that he needed to find happiness. He had been told that if he really wanted happiness he had to find chi in his life. He decided that no matter how long this took he would not settle until he had found happiness, chi.


It seemed that the obvious place to beginning looking was in the temples and places of worship. At each place he stopped he was told that if he really wants to find this chi then he would have to travel to a temple further away in another place. He did just this, each time making the journey to a further place. After visiting more than one hundred such places he felt that he was not further forward in his search for happiness, for the chi, it was suggested that maybe he was searching in the wrong places. That rather than places of worship and temples he should go to the shrines and the places where in historical time’s great things and events had occurred. Once again he undertook many years of search and pilgrimage. The desire within him to find happiness was still very strong. Again after many years of such a pilgrimage he had not found what he was looking for.

It was suggested to him that what he was looking for would only be found in the mountains where there lived wise hermits. So he set off climbing many high mountains and speaking with many mountain hermits. Finally, with his hair gray with age he was told of an old hermit that lived in an isolated high mountain cave. He began the torturous climb with a determination. Finally he arrived where he found an old man, a solitary ascetic. He told the man of his goal and his search. The old man gave a wry chuckle. “If you want to find the chi and happiness,” he said “sit down and close your eyes.” He took hold of his hands and said again, “Chi is here within your grasp, it is within every being.

As the artist searches for the best painting, the best sculpture, the best piece of art. The search must begin within the artist. Others may be able to help bring it out to give tips and hints. But the search for happiness in the creative process begins in each artist own hands.

Gong Hei Fat Choy and Happy Valentines Day

Yes it is both Chinese New year, The Year of the Tiger, and Valentines Day. Valentines Day has lost over the years lost what it started out to be. It was a day to remember the martyred “Saint” Valentine. I put the saint in inverted commas because I have real concerns about the idea of sainthood, but I respect those who do believe. That all seems to have got lost in the modern celebration and consumerism has become the name of the game. Shopkeepers love it sales of expensive cards go through the roof. To make sure you can get a bouquet of flowers you have to order well in advance. Strange how nobody seems to think that if it is all anonymous why we don’t just recycle last years cards. OK I know I am being very, very cynical. It is nice that we have set aside a day to think of those that matter dearly to us. To pay some recognition to those who hold a special place in our lives. You will note that I am somewhat reluctant to use the word love. It is a word that is so often used that it has kind of lost all sense of real meaning. We can say we love a beef burger and the same times tell a person we love them. The Greeks had three words that are now often translated as the one word love. The had the words, Eros, Philos and Agape. Eros was the romantic sensual, Philos the relationships we have with friends and family and Agape the kind of love that gives and goes on giving and never seeks anything in return. Now I don’t know where the love of a burger would fit into that but there you go. Can I say I love art? No but I can say I am bound to it and obsessed by it so that is a kind of love I think. So I say to all those who mean something to me, and I hold dear in my life, Happy Valentines Day.


I visited China with a group of students in the year 2000. We had a marvellous time and I so loved the culture and the places I visited. It was a cathartic experience. Being a teacher of world religions I was aware of Buddhism and its teaching and also of Taoism. For the first time though I had considered that maybe there was more to it than just a subject to teach. It has a great benefit because I have the traditional New Year when I can make New Year resolutions then not long after it I have Chinese New Year when I can see how I am progressing and make some adjustments. I get the best of both worlds really.

But as Taoism says every day is a new day and every day has many possibilities to be grasped. Kind of almost like One day at a Time. "Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river." Lao Tse.

So I wish all my friends, “Gong Hei Fat Choy” Happy New Year.