Josh's Manifesto

"As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so a well spent life brings happy death."
- Da Vinci

Happiness has many forms, and it takes a true soul to go out and find it for his or herself.  It seems as though human existence in general is solely based around the principles of that specific modern society.  Parallel to ants, humans tend to colonize, breed, work, fight, and die to essentially feed the demands of The Machine.  Without individuals such as McCandless and Thoreau, the human society would be forever bound to an endless cycle in which any benefits are taken by The Machine.  I am not trying to promote rage against The Machine, for that would only cause more loss and death to mankind, all I am saying is that in one's lifetime he or she should find themselves, benefit from his or her own experiences, and learn that living life in a structured society is not the only way to exist.  I don't think people should believe a life has already been planned for them, either by religion or by societies structures, for one does not have to contribute to a society to gain happiness in life.  Happiness is merely a recollection of previous experiences that one has found joy in, therefore, why not create these experience by one's own standards. Selfishness is non-existent when searching to achieve what everyone else has been trying to achieve all their lives: happiness.  It is not selfish to go out and search for happiness.  Happiness is different for every person, as everyone has different experiences and desires.  Happiness could be anything from a warm gun, to living alone, to learning to fly.  Taking this into consideration, one can ask is what Christopher McCandless did selfish?  Was Going to find the true meaning of happiness, then in his dying moments realizing that happiness is only real when shared, selfish?  I don't believe it was, to me it was an act of courage, strength, and endurance.  Even though McCandless died on his journey to finding happiness, he did find it.  Happiness itself can be whatever one wishes it to be -- shared, smiles, tears, love -- it has many forms.  It will be found.  It may take years or even lifetimes to find ones own happiness but it will happen.  It will be different for everyone but it will always be found in the same place.  The problem with happiness is that it is always in the same place, but it is very hard to get to. Happiness will always be found in the heart. One should not be guided by religion, or social structure, one should be guided by the heart for that is where true happiness lies. 

"Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things it will come and sit softly on your shoulder."

- Thoreau.