What is one of the primary differences between someone who is well-adjusted, and someone who is not?
The well-adjusted have a goal or a purpose. Those who are not well-adjusted have no goal or purpose. They are losing peace of soul.
You would not have a gadget in your house for ten minutes without asking, “What is this for?” And so it is with life. Man must have a purpose. Typically, people decide this before they decide anything else.
The ultimate well ordered purpose of man is to be happy.
What man wants as his final goal is LIFE; not a life for just five more minutes, but enduring life. He wants TRUTH; not the truth of geography to the exclusion of science, but ALL truth. He wants LOVE; not a mere fleeting emotion, but an enduring ecstatic love.
This is the normal goal of human beings.
Perfect LIFE, perfect TRUTH, and prefect LOVE is the definition of what we call GOD. In other words in seeking happiness, man is really seeking God.
There is a philosophical principle that the first in intention is the last in execution. Suppose you intend to drive to Los Angeles from Las Vegas. That’s first in your intent, but its the last place you get. You have to go through Primm, Baker, and Barstow before you get to LA.
So too a happy person decides first what is their ULTIMATE goal in life.
Meditation:
Do I recognize that God is my ultimate goal and purpose? Is my journey moving me closer or further away from this end?
“Because you have made us for Yourself, our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee.“
Saint Augustine