Life is lived in the tension of want and inadequacy. You may think someone else is happy because he has comforts. This is because you have set a value for what he has. Nobody is really happy. The only difference between the "haves" and "have-nots" is that the "haves" are unhappy with comforts and the "have-nots" are unhappy without comforts. Everyone wants to be different from what he or she is. This is a problem common to every human being.
Solving this problem is the purpose of life. One cannot be indifferent to it. The experiences of life make one think. "What I want is not all these things. I want to be at ease with myself. How can I discover that?" When the problem is thus identified, one knows exactly what one should look for, and life becomes purposeful. Then alone it is worth living.
-- Swami Dayanand, The teaching of the Bhagavad Gita
http://www.supremecourtcaselaw.com/thoughts.htm
