Happiness does not consist in riches, although it is very easy to believe that it does. True wealth would be much better defined as ‘character’; for a man can only be happy when he is at peace with himself. The richest men are often the unhappy, since they do not realize that a man’s wealth does not consist in the abundance of things which he possesses, but in the sort of man that he is. The Greeks wrote over the entrance to one of their most famous temples the words—”Know Thyself.” They understood that in order to be happy a man must face life honestly. He cannot expect to ‘get’, if he never ‘gives’; he cannot expect to be happy himself, if he never makes others happy. A man’s life is of no importance or value at all, unless he succeeds in influencing, helping and encouraging those among whom he lives. For too many people are not living at all, but just existing for themselves alone; they receive no happiness from life because they never give happiness to others. In other words, they are poor in spirit; for there is a spiritual side to poverty as well as a material. A man can be rich even in twenty rupees a month, if his mind is trained to seek happiness in human friendship and companionship and helpfulness, instead of in money.
Vocabulary
Expect—assume
Poverty—being poor
