Real estate investor Zell Kravinsky gave more than $40 million to charity—and then donated one of his kidneys to a stranger. He would have given away more organs and the rest of his fortune, had his family not stopped him. Here are his thoughts on joy:
[Giving my kidney away] did give me joy. I anticipated that it would, and it was not a letdown. That joy still comes back from time to time. It was unselfish, and that can't be taken away by subsequent events. It gives me a security. In theory, I can't get too depressed because I did this one good thing.
My claim is that my aim in life is not happiness but goodness. I can't conceive of any purpose in life, if not moral advancement.
When I see my daughter in a dance recital, for example, that's fantastic—that is a joy. So I don't think life is joyless, but I don't think people are happy.
If you could wake up completely concerned with others' well-being, if you were relieved of the burden of thinking of yourself—that would be happiness.
