Is Happiness What We Want?

I was observing the conditions on a psychiatric ward where the emphasis was NA and AA oriented treatment. I made a remark to the chief psychiatrist on that ward that these people were not getting better, and that is the difference between Asian and Western psychology. Asian psychology aims at making people happy. Western psychology thinks it is good to be miserable and bear it in sobriety. Why are we here, on this planet, in this life, in this time and our particular place and stations in life? Is it only to suffer and bear the pain? Is it solely to reproduce and get old and die? When we say we are "clean and sober" are we really, when we have personalities as undistinguished, flat, fragile and limited as a cardboard box, and we are a little pissed at everyone, a little hateful of life and very self seeking? How can anyone be satisfied in such a condition? Is the purpose of life to become more uncaring? Really? When we say life is for learning, what is it that we are learning? Knowledge does make you more free. Freedom builds happiness, and happiness is the true meaning and true lesson we all need to learn.