The Art of Happiness

our family or friends, or even events in society atlarge, it can become a significant source of ourmisery.In describing the wider implications of thiskind of narrow thinking, Jacques Lusseyran oncemade an insightful observation. Lusseyran, blindfrom the age of eight, was a founder of aresistance group in World War II. Eventually, hewas captured by the Germans and imprisoned inBuchenwald concentration camp. In laterrecounting his experiences in the camps,Lusseyran stated, “ ... Unhappiness, I saw then,comes to each of us because we think ourselvesat the center of the world, because we have themiserable conviction that we alone suffer to thepoint of unbearable intensity. Unhappiness isalways to feel oneself imprisoned in one’s ownskin, in one’s own brain.”