I recently finished reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. It's a big book, but I think everyone should read it sometime in their adult life.

The book covers periods of war and peace during Napoleon's attack on Russia. The title is fitting. However, this is not a book about war. It's a book about people - their struggles and their joy.

There are many great characters in this book, but my favorite is Pierre Bezukhov.

Throughout the book, Pierre goes through a lot of soul-searching.

He's one of the richest people in the book, and he goes through least objective trouble. Yet, he is the most troubled, burdened by his own mind, his own search for the meaning of life.

Pierre tries many methods to find inner peace - academia, alcohol, beautiful women, religion, charity, travel, heroism... Yet none of these methods work for long. He always ends up feeling alienated and empty. He always ends up a victim of circumstance. 

He spins in circles until he, by chance, loses everything. Getting captured by the enemy military, Pierre experiences slavery, hunger, poverty, and many other discomforts of imprisonment. Yet, during his time as a prisoner of war, Pierre begins to understand happiness.
Things end well for Pierre - with a new appreciation for life, he starts to find joy everywhere around him.
Pierre teaches us that meaning and joy never come from the outside, and they're never complex. 

We can only experience happiness through simplicity.

Perhaps in the modern age, Pierre would want to become a Buddhist.

 

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