What Do People Need the Most?

People need happiness. At our core, we all seek to feel happy. But real happiness is not found in fleeting pleasures. It comes when we understand why we exist, for what purpose, and how our lives and the world around us constantly evolve. When we see our role in this process, when we realize how we can improve ourselves and contribute to the world, we experience a sense of deep and lasting happiness.

Happiness is also no solitary pursuit. It arises through the exchange of positive influences between people, i.e., when we do good for others and when others do good for us. This mutual flow of giving and receiving, directed in a mutually beneficial way, creates a wondrous sense of fulfillment.

Nature provides a key example of how happiness works: a baby in its mother’s arms. The baby feels a perfect sense of security, warmth, and love. To feel truly happy, we should feel similar to how the baby feels in its mother’s arms relative to human society, humanity, and life itself. We should not feel burdened by worries and fears but the support of a society that nurtures and uplifts us.

In such a state, life and death become irrelevant because all that really matters is the experience of mutual happiness. I bring joy to my “mother” — the society that cares for me — and in return, my “mother” delights in me. Happiness thus depends on us developing to a life of mutual bestowal, where we each support, encourage, care for, and uplift one another, and by doing so, rise above all limitations.