According to The American Heritage Dictionary, guilt is the "regretful awareness of having done something wrong." It seems strange, but many of us equate happiness with wrong action. Our western cultural heritage is so steeped in the ideas of original sin and suffering as man's natural condition that happiness is often viewed as an appropriate state of mind only for babies and people with subnormal IQ's. The best the rest of us weather-beaten poor slobs can hope to achieve is some degree of acceptance of our horrible condition.

To make matters even more complicated, many people have been exposed to a religious interpretation of morality that is based on a judgmental, angry and jealous God who created all of humanity, but only reserves places in heaven for his chosen people. Who are these chosen people? The answer depends on what religion you are. For Jews it's the Jews; for Catholics, there's no salvation outside the Mother Church; for Evangelical Protestants, Jesus is the only way to God; for Muslims, infidels abound. If you don't think this story has any power in today's modern world, turn on the evening news tonight and watch the world's "chosen people" duke it out. If this isn't depressing, nothing is. But what's most depressing is that we've internalized the "chosen people" concept whether we know it or not. Why else would it matter where we went to college, how much money we make, or where we live? Our crazy and ancient fear of the consequences of not being chosen, of being out of favor, out of step, or out of line makes us afraid to live a joyful life.

Even those of us who don't buy into the religious doom and gloom perspective are often plagued by ethical considerations and wonder if it's okay to be happy when the world is such a mess and so many people around the world, including our families and friends, are struggling to make it.

When we feel the familiar pangs of guilt or fear about being happy, we should ask ourselves a few questions:

1. How is my not being happy helping anyone on the planet? Does being unhappy energize me to help another person or does it make me feel complacent, lethargic and unable to help?

2. When will the world be okay enough for me to feel joy? When all the nuclear bombs are gone? When the water is clean? When the messiah arrives? What if none of these things happen in my lifetime?

3. If I believe that the Kingdom of Heaven is within and symbolizes a peaceful and happy state of mind, and not an actual place in the clouds, how am I ever going to experience it if I don't allow myself to enjoy being happy?

4. Are suffering and happiness mutually exclusive? Isn't it possible to feel happy even when I'm suffering? If I win the lottery and have a toothache at the same time, would I choose to not redeem my ticket just because I'm in a little physical pain?

Being spiritual does not necessarily mean signing on to a life of never-ending suffering and depression. Happiness is our natural and spiritual birthright. Every time any of us feels joy, we overcome pain and suffering and serve as a wayshower to the joyful path to the spiritual kingdom. Don't feel guilty about being happy. It's just as possible that we're the product of what Matthew Fox calls "original blessing" as it is that we're doomed by original sin. It's simply a matter of how you look at it.