To live a happy life, I believe you need two things:
- A sense that life has meaning.
- A sense that the afterlife has meaning.
The first one is, of course, to make this life happy. You’re here for a purpose and that purpose gives your life meaning and meaning gives happiness.
The second one is to give even death meaning.
Both is needed to give your life balance.
If you only believed in 1, you’d probably live in fear of death.
If you only believed in 2, you would rob your current life of meaning, and also of happiness. (And, worst case scenario, join a death cult or something similarly crazy… :))
If you believe that life has a meaning, you can go into bad situations, even horrible ones, with the mindset that you’re going to learn something, find the meaning, understand the purpose.
Even if the purpose is to only experience pain and sorrow, these are experiences, and they are important to you, and the path you’re on.