Topic: Ode to Joy

“When I was five years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the title, and I told them they didn’t understand life,” says John Lennon, the lead singer of The Beatles. 

Things do not always go our way. Birth, aging, illness and death are inevitable life experiences. As life moves on - regardless of our mood - it could be more practical to laugh heartily throughout life. However, in this era of corrupted public morals, social controversy is relentless while wars endure all over the world. Sometimes, knowledge increases with agony – can reading purify the soul?

This edition of in-depth coverage themed"Ode to Joy" will introduce a range of delightful books to readers of all ages so that they can happily welcome the New Year. 

//Amy Young, transformed herself from a lawyer to an illustrator, promoting happiness in children’s eyes. (Photo provided by Amy Young)

In theory, we do not have to instruct children to seek happiness. Nevertheless, the pressure that children face in their studies is increasing. Peer competition intensifies while video games breed inanition. If children lose their enthusiasm, happiness will cast them adrift. 

When you have half a cup of water, you either complain about that fact or are grateful about it being half full. The cow in Misery Moo grumbles about wetness in rain, chilliness in winter and the boredom of admiring gorgeous scenery. A lamb, which is enthusiastic about life, teaches the cow to consider life from other perspectives. The cow nonetheless remains depressed until the lamb leaves her. She finally understands that pleasure has been around all the time. 

U.S. illustrator Amy L. Young decided to embark upon her illustrating career after being a lawyer for seven years. Her first work - Belinda Begins Ballet – celebrates the innocence of childhood. The protagonist, who had a pair of extraordinarily large feet, loved dancing ballet but she could not join the ballet team that she liked. However, she did not give up on her dream – she danced to music even when she worked as a waitress in a restaurant. Her talent was ultimately acclaimed. 

Happiness is, in fact, extremely easy to achieve: altering your perspective and learning to appreciate the things around you, treasuring all the things you possess and responding to disdain and contempt with calm – you will then notice that the world is different.

//The Dalai Lama’s cat is real – the book assesses life from the animal’s perspective. (Photo provided by David Michie)
//Young people should retain their curiosity and sense of adventure so that they do not spend their life in vain. (Photographed by Nell Tse)

Nowadays, young people reckon that their lives are all about study, work, marriage and the acquisition of real estate. They forget that they should pursue their dreams when they are young. The process can be challenging. However, they may even be more passionate about their lives in gratitude for all they own. 

To seek the pyramid he had twice seen in his dreams the protagonist in The Alchemist travelled from Spain to Africa, traversing a desert and an oasis. He conversed with Wind and Sun, got acquainted with a crystal trader, a caravan and an alchemist, and finally witnesses the magnificence of the pyramid. It is noted in the tale that ‘when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it’.

The Dalai Lama’s Cat humorously conveys Buddhist principles from the perspective of a cat. Since it was born, the kitten was homeless and brought to a temple, where it was fostered by the Dalai Lama. It made a mouse more dead than alive and envied a pampered dog. Obsessed with another handsome cat in the neighbourhood, it was also insatiable in its delicacies. It was engaged in all the secular poisons: ignorance, attachment, aversion, yet fortuitously it experienced happiness. 

In a society captivated by greed, we should further understand the value of our life and, with a goodwill, pursue our dreams courageously. We shall then discover that the spiritual world is even more charming than the material world. 

The desperateness of birth, aging, illness and death should be best understood by the elderly. However, death is a taboo for Chinese people who fear that misery will be aggravated once mentioned. Eventually, they evade the reality when they are old. We should sanguinely understand the last phase of life in order to taste the uses of adversity.

A president of one of the Big Four audit firms contracted cancer when he was fifty-three years old. He had just four months left of the most prominent period of his life. He honestly confronted his feelings including misery and happiness, got along with his family harmoniously and established a charitable fund for other cancer patients. Upon experiencing all of this, he realised that he had pursued material success for a large part of his life, only to find that he could only enjoy his life before his death.

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is translated from the Tibetan language to English because foreigners are fascinated by the way that Tibetan Buddhism fuses religion and science in their studies of life and death. Buddhism advocates that one can depart from suffering only when he/she understands the reasons for the suffering, and that one can acquire happiness only when he/she understands the reasons for happiness. Apart from the art of life, the book mentions how contentment can be achieved on the deathbed. This heavenly book is a must-read.

Things do not always go our way. Nevertheless, life is short so we should always live cheerfully. We do not have to seek out happiness strenuously and externally; we just have to quest for it in our soul at this moment. It is hoped that by reading the aforementioned books everybody can depart from pain and achieve happiness.

//The second half of life looks like the sunset stage but it is also a resplendent moment. (Photographed by Ling Lui)