Possible Happiness

Possible Happiness

In the world today the oppressive nature of the urgency of matters to be solved, leaves our brains fatigued and hearts deprived of happiness. In spite of having necessary luxuries of life, we look for happiness all our life without knowing the thing we actually want so desperately with all our senses. The situation raises certain questions in my mind; what is happiness? Why look for it? Where to find it? How to find it? How to handle it?

Most of us take it as a particular state of senses which makes it a kind of physical pleasure attainable through physical efforts and objects, others a particular state of mind and heart devoted to a higher being in which their spirits take refuge at certain moments of disappointment from the world, in way or the other. The former remains utterly baffled and exhausts in the end, the later rarely achieves that state imperfectly denying his selfishness for the necessities of life on this earth. What is happiness for the man of the world then? It is a combination of physical and spiritual with a certain kind of proportionate "The Balance" which is quite attainable with conscious efforts of mind and heart by a man. The nature of the "The balance" will be revealed as the argument develops in coming paragraphs.

The second question before us is why to look for happiness or "The balance"? The pursuit of it is important to stay alive because the constituting elements of a successful life are directly proportional to happiness. In other words it harmonizes our mind, heart, body and soul by providing them with right attitude, optimistic behavior, and a healthy sense of our "haves" which equip our body with fighting chemicals against any disease. So the denial of the existence of desire for happiness in a man would be an understatement of the purpose of his existence in this world.

People, I see, dying for love, property, wealth, and mad pursuit of spiritual ideals in order to be happy. But, they are left exhausted with disparaging hollowness in them, which often proves to be the result of a misguided and mismeasured activity in the end. Where to look for it then? As I said earlier, it is neither physical nor a spiritual entity, it is a combination of both which has never departed from our lives, and very much exists here within and without us, which does not need to be looked for, rather to be looked at, to be felt, to be absorbed, to be inhaled, and to be enjoyed to the full, because it is everywhere.

Bare awareness of the existence of happiness is going to do no good to those who want taste it. Raising our self to the advanced level from the bare awareness should be aimed at for ‘’The Balance’’. ‘’The Balance" can be achieved by using psychological and biological aspects of human nature. According to Bertrand Russell in his "Conquest of Happiness" zest is the first instinctive characteristic of human nature which keeps charm in our life. Zest is to look outward and taking interest in the world. Man with zest enjoys sometimes unpleasant things even.

 Affection is the second instinct which frees us from the sense of deprivation. Family and friends is third instinct which is essential to gain and give love, help, interest, and satisfaction. Fourth element is work and the effort to get rid of boredom and destructive tendency. Becoming impersonal widens the range of our vision and outlook. Resignation in some cases is also a part of becoming impersonal and bringing, peace, love and happiness in our lives. In simple words we should stay busy, be generous and affectionate, forgive others, take exercise, keep watching inspirational movies, songs and messages, keep others secrets, be open to them, and keep promises  to enjoy "The Balance" in life.

I hear people claiming the impermanence of happiness, and permanence of the state of unhappiness. It is obvious from the earlier discussion that they lack "The right attitude" towards happiness. Those who have it do not make genuinely conscious efforts to sustain it. The desire for having happiness permanently is the nature of man. If it can be acquired through conscious efforts, it can also be kept sustained through them as well. The efforts made to handle envy, boredom, carelessness, freedom, fear and fatigue can yield and sustain "The Balance". Making such efforts can turn into a habit and a habit extended further becomes personality, which is the ultimate goal of all efforts.

Kashif Moon 29.11.2015