What is the Starting Point of Happiness?

Let me briefly share with you this book The Starting Point of Happiness. The author Master Ryuho Okawa has written 2,200 books now and this is only just one of them, and this book contains a certain limited number of unique perspectives, interpretations, and explanations of the truth about human happiness.

First of all, I love the very first sentence of the book:

Sometimes we find ourselves seized by an indescribable fear and wish we could run away from our lives. It is at this very time, however, that we need to stop and reflect on how we started life in this world.

The book then continues with saying how we start our life literally with nothing as little tiny babies who don’t care about such things as money, status, etc., but as we get older and enter adulthood, we start comparing ourselves with other people, and thereby creating a lot of problems and suffering for ourselves.

Although we are given a lot of material things since birth, as well as above all, hope for the future, we still feel our lives are lacking, especially in comparison to some others.

This is why learning to be content with your own unique life is very important and crucial in being truly happy, beyond just the superficial happiness of gaining material possessions. For example, while earning and receiving a university diploma is a good accomplishment, it is still not enough to make us feel contented and fulfilled in the long run.

So, what is, in a nutshell, the starting point of happiness?

The starting point of happiness is to give love to others instead of taking love from other people.

Most of the time, it’s difficult to put into practice and to understand exactly what “giving love” is and what “taking love” is, so let me talk about that next time, or if you can’t wait, you can just read the book yourself. (I still think it’s good to hear other people’s viewpoints on what giving love is and why it’s so important even if you’ve already read the book)

I would like to write more about this book and others in future articles, because as with all Master Okawa’s books, they’re so jammed pack with so much profound wisdom, but since they are written in an almost deceptively simple straightforward wording style, it’s easy to overlook the profundity of truths being expounded upon.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, let me finish simply by giving you a teaser of several subchapter titles out of 48 total – from the 8 chapters, to entice you to discover a journey waiting to be found in this book: