Happiness... or meaning?

Recently I was watching a television show called Heroes. Great plot, great action, but it threw something completely unexpected at me.... philosophy. One of the 'villain's of the show posed this challenge to a character: "There come a time when a man has to ask himself whether he wants a life of happiness or a life of meaning."

Now, same as I would have, the character replied simply "Both." to which the response was even more interesting.

"Can't be done. Two very different paths. To be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present, no thought of what's gone before and no thought of what lies ahead. But a life with meaning, a man is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future."

Now this got me thinking. Over the past few months I've based my life off the fact that I should be pursuing happiness in my life, little else other than to serve God. Perhaps I've lost my way... perhaps I haven't... but this does make an interesting question:

Is to live only in the pursuit of happiness selfish? Surely it isn't if doing good things makes you happy... but what about those things that are neither good nor bad... or the wicked which brings pleasure? No, it seems as if the pursuit of happiness isn't what it's all about... it can be corruptible, it can be warped.

But is to live solely for a life of meaning any better? You can make your life mean whatever you want it to, after all, reality is only a state of mind. So what does it mean to make your life meaningful? Does it mean leaving a mark? Does it mean satisfying some preset purpose? Does it mean determining a purpose and fulfilling it? Does it mean touching others? Again, we find the corruptible... such as humanity is fated to be.

But does "wallowing in the past" serve any good purpose? Sure! we must learn from our mistakes! But to agonize over the past and the future... that can't be all chalk up my existence to? Can it? Only by what I've accomplished in life? The external marks I've left? What if those marks are scars?

What if I've made other people's life's happy, but neglected my own? Should I count my life as success or failure? Why do I feel the need to think about life as success or failure? After all, it's neither... it's just life.