First Draft-29/07/17, 0019. 5th Writing.
Kia ora, how’d thy be. Looking into this idea of happiness a bit today, in particular the much renowned pursuit for it.
Happiness is an enigmatic topic. It correlates with positive emotion, which is said to be driven by the left hemisphere of our mini-verse (better known as our brain). Just like every other emotion we produce, happiness is complex. Although, I feel like it is one of the craziest emotions, off the top of my head the only crazier emotion is love. But we won’t go there. It seems that happiness comes in different shapes and sizes. What makes a psychopath happy? Bets me, but I can imagine they feel happy when they are pulling the strings, running their manipulation tactics at the expense of others. Everyone has a different type of happiness and I believe we all experience many forms of happiness, some more unexplainable than others. For example, it would seem obvious for most to be happy after say… winning a tournament, right? Why do we assume that? It is not the case with everyone; it can be quite the opposite. Even though it may give you that dopamine boost we crave, it’s just a short-term triumph. Ultimately, it can lead to a state of depression. Once they have accomplished their goal, then they now have nothing to work towards, which seems to be the most reliable way to produce a natural source of serotonin. In that way, winning can be thought of as a drug. You only have to look at major athletes who become unhappy once they are out of the game. So, I suppose the example of happiness in this case can be related to competitiveness. Well how about another example? It is said the greatest happiness one can endure is through the birth of their child. Once again, this is not the case for everyone, as people can grow to full heartedly hate their children. Does it make them happy to hate their kids? Fuck maybe, that is a pretty crazy thought. You almost do get the feeling that some people do like it. And don’t give me the shit that no parents hate their kids, it is possible, and I think we find cases more often than you would think.
Anyway, these 2 examples (for the common person) seem to provoke happiness. Once the emotion has been endured, there is a timeframe on its existence (like a countdown). When you apply this notion to happiness, you can see that one gets little bits of arbitrary happiness, an unexplainable manifestation of positive emotion. Is that happiness? In the words of Jordan Peterson, it depends on what you mean by happiness. Is the state of ‘happy’, proclaimed when one is ecstatic with positive emotion for a short period of time? Is the feeling durable and long lasting? It really depends what you think happiness is. For arguments sake let us just say from here on, happiness is a state in which one feels positively aligned with everything relevant to them at a given point in time. I think that’s not a bad descriptor.
Now that we have said a lil bit about what happiness is, what is so desirable about this pursuit we hear so much about? It is commonly known to be people’s life focus, “I just want to be happy” “they make me happy” “Leave me alone, I’m happy and that’s all that matters.” I used to be a believer in this pursuit, but when I looked at the concept a bit deeper, I found some flaws. Sure, the state of happiness is most definitely beneficial and desirable. The problem I see with it is that it’s not an adequate answer to the suffering of life. This is because it cannot be sustained for long periods of time (as mentioned above). I believe that happiness (and sadness) come in bursts and then migrates away again, like the shine and the rain in Kaitaia. I do not think it is achievable to be in a state of happiness forever. Some people are more prone to positive emotion, while others are more prone to negative emotion; it’s just the way it is. Some of it is nested in our biology, and some of it arises from our culture/up-bringing. So, should happiness be what we are aiming for? Is it the ultimate purpose of life? Power to you if you can achieve an everlasting state of happiness, but to me it just isn’t tenable.
I think people should seriously reconsider putting all their money on happiness. A better bet in my eyes, is the pursuit of meaning/purpose. I believe that a life with meaning is a life worth living. Have responsibilities that you must attend too, like your wife, kids, job etc. They are all part of what gives your life meaning. It is not going to give you a constant state of happiness, but it will give you a purpose, a reason, a means to fight through the suffering. There is a purpose out their waiting for everyone, you just got to go find it, or make your own. The success rate for finding a life with meaning must trump that of a life of happiness. And I realise this could just be a technicality of terms in some people’s eyes, some may consider the pursuit of happiness to be what I have outlines as the pursuit of meaning/purpose. But I think it is kind of an important distinction to announce. Happiness and meaning are not the same thing. Meaning is not a state of pure happiness.
Another query for the pursuit of happiness goer is; is happiness a good state to be in? Is it really something you want to be constantly powered by? It’s an immensely impulsive emotion and you don’t think very clearly when it conducts you. Think about it. You never think of the worst when your happy. This is dangerous because the worst is always just around the corner. If you drop your guard for too long then you will get smacked in the face by reality. I mean, you can bet your bottom dollar that there are plentiful people surrounding you who are not indulged in the same emotional state. It’s going to fuck them off if you are constantly happy. People get ridiculously jealous when it comes to 'virtues' such as happiness. They might see your happiness and through their state of envy think, “Fuck this guy man, I hate him. What gives him the right to be happy while I’m out here suffering?” You’re over there smiling away, blinded by your happiness. Your threat detector is malfunctioning. You are too stubborn to admit that there is real danger in this world, a side effect of happiness. Who knows, they could be that crazy dude who crashes your party. After all, their envious thoughts have clouded their vision and pushed them in to an adverse state in malevolence. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. I realise that is a bit of a tangent, or a stretch of the imagination, but it does happen all the time! It can be related to the story of Cain and Able. Cain kills what he wants, his ideal (Abel), because he can’t get it. A common archetypal story that we all know, the evil brother destroys his good counterpart, like Mufasa and Scar.
Is there anything else I would like to say about the pursuit of happiness….. I guess what I’m driving at is don’t be so sure that happiness is the answer to your problems, because it could in fact be the causation of your problems also. Whereas pursuing a meaningful life is different. It accepts human nature. It accepts that we are imperfect beings, made of both positive and negative emotion. It accepts that they both are powerful and undeniable emotions, but necessary to struggle our way through life. Although I do love me a bit of happiness haha.
Meaning>Happiness in summation. Doneskies, 0059. Writings pretty cool when you get on a role. Whenever I start a piece I always think “Am I really going to be able to babble on about this for 1000ish words?” But it’s always super easy, and I could go on, but then I would have to start putting a bit more structure and planning behind the topics. I prefer this method for now, it’s a good way to just let your mind talk. Churrda