As part of her interfaith dialogue, Krista Tippet's recent podcasts include a conversation with the Dalai Lama, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, a Muslim scholar, and an Episcopalian bishop.
When asked about the pursuit of happiness in a tradition that includes a lot of pain and suffering, Rabbi Sacks said: "It is true, that if you read Jewish history, happiness is not the first word that comes to mind." (The audience laughs loudly at this, of course!)
"We do degrees in misery, post-graduate angst, and advanced guilt, and we do all this stuff, y'know, and yet somehow or other, when all of that is at an end, we come together and we celebrate."
He mentioned the Dalai Lama who has come through exile and suffering, still smiling. "And that's how I describe my faith as a Jew. Jacob says something very profound to the angel, 'I will not let you go until you bless me.' That is how I feel about suffering. When I have suffered some bad thing, I will not let it go untilI have discovered the blessing that lies within it."
When the Dalai Lama's spoke, he said, "Of course my life not easy, that is clear, but when I see some problem, some tragedy, I always look from different angle, and sometimes that same event may also have some positive thing....Happiness not come down from the sky. We have to make it."
And then, of course, he laughed that contagious merry laugh of his!
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