Schopenhauer's Will to Life

For Schopenhauer, happiness as something to strive for and be achieved is a bitter illusion. What we call happiness is nothing but the temporary absence of that much more permanent background suffering and dissatisfaction. The Sage wages an inner holy war against all worldly desires in refusing to play along with life's trivialities. But if you can rise to the level of the rare few who understand how the will to live operates, there are no other options available," he says.