Let's Prehend
A Manual of Human Ecology and Culture Design

HAPPINESS, Objective and Subjective - Easy Way

Let's consider happiness in twoaspects, objective and subjective. Objectively, happiness is a matter of organic personal and cultural life. Because people's ideas of what they want and what makes them happy are so corrupted by advertising and by abstract culture in general, we are obliged to resort to zoo theory. Zoologists study what makes animals flourish. Fortunately the animals can barely speak so the researchers must rely on observation and empathy. Similarly we might explore human happiness with observation and empathy, and disregard what they decide to say about what they remember they thought about how they felt.

In humans as in all animals, happiness is supported by organic physical and social environments. The common image is the need for food, clothing and shelter. While these items are rarely lacking, physical needs often degrade to demands for gourmet foods, expensive foot wear and other trivia of abstract culture. It is possible, even with the First World wealth, to deprive some people of physical necessities, as if the degradation of the poor enhanced self esteem. Even though a portion of the worlds' people live in fear, confinement, degradation and deprivation, let us omit further discussion of physical needs, since the problem is so easily solved.

The second basic support for a happy life is organic social life and culture - a need originating long before we were homo sapiens and just as compelling today. Without organic social life, many can be happy subjectively, as outlined below, but many also lead ghostly lives and go crazy one way or another. Even Dr. Abraham *Maslow's classic hierarchy of needs de-emphasizes the cultural support mechanisms. Chapter 4, SOCIOLOGY, outlines what organic social life is, and how it can be designed and built. The reconstruction of organic social life is the only hope for survival of human culture and is the main task of this book.

We postpone details of objective happiness for later sections of the book and turn our attention now to the subjective approaches to happiness.

It has been wisely said that subjective happiness does not depend on circumstances, an assertion too Buddhist for most of us. Since some may feel that a discussion of psychology is not complete without a discussion of happiness and how to achieve it, we offer this simple and efficient method.

Observe that people don't really want happiness, even though they may say they do. They really want intensification, from 5,5 toward 4,6 on the D chart. But if one turns that goal toward 6,6, happiness becomes easy.

To attain happiness easily and quickly, also safely and constructively, one need only do this happiness exercise once or twice a day. The sacrifice of perhaps half an hour each day may be too much for most. But, of course, time is not the issue.

HAPPINESS EXERCISE

First, get into a comfortable but alert position. Take a few deep breaths, close your eyes and rest for a moment. Acknowledge but put aside any aches and pains. Then begin the "forgiveness" part of the exercise: Simply go over in your mind whatever forgivenesses come up. Say to yourself, "I forgive this, i forgive that, i forgive . . .." and so on until all the forgivenesses are finished. If it takes more than a quarter of an hour, go on to the following part two. You may save some forgivenesses for the next meditation, but not for the next life.

Second, do the "thankyou" exercise: go over in your mind whatever thankyous come up. Say to yourself "thankyou for this and thankyou for that and thank . . ..", until the thankyous are finished. If it goes on too long, save some thankyous for next time. If some of the thankyous trigger angers, than go back for a few forgivenesses.

By this simple exercise, happiness can be had by anyone, quickly and easily, if that is desired.

Attitude is a small component of happiness, but a worthy topic for this short discussion. We glean from humankind's wisdom one slogan worthy of attention: "For the good life, always strive to lower your standards." This beneficial advice offers the power to enrich all aspects of life: automobiles, careers, and families, but especially every-day processes such as marriage and cooking. Never mind marriage, but in cooking imagine having oatmeal every morning, should you be so fortunate. Even though the oatmeal is roughly the same each day, the standards and expectations are gradually declining, at least to the devotee. Therefore, the oatmeal becomes better and better each day. Eventually, with the refinement of maturity and the cultivation of sensitivity, the oatmeal becomes a holy communion, a participation in the ecosystem, a daily ecstasy to which every human is heir.

< VALENTINE, Desperately Seeking ... Something Chapters   Essays NOTAM, Notes On The Anthropology of Medicine >
Copyright © 2024 Earl Williamson. All rights reserved. Feedback Last updated Monday, April 9, 2018 05:43 UTC