• Do the philosophers know what happiness is?
• Do the spiritual teachers?
• Do you?
• Get some practical pointers here on Philosophy Happiness.
Philosophy: Happiness
Many of the great philosophers (all the way back to Aristotle,
and probably long before that, too) have grappled with the
concept of happiness.
Is it 'the good life', is it 'joy' or is it a state of
'rapture'?
Is it a permanent long-term condition or a fleeting short term
one? How does it relate to satisfaction – and to spiritual
enlightenment?
Aristotle on Happiness
Greek philosopher Aristotle (Aristoteles) lived from 384 B.C. to
322 B.C. and had a profound impact on Western science and
philosophy. (Aristotle was taught by Plato, who in turn was
taught by Socrates).
Aristotle wrote many things on happiness and the ‘worthwhile
life’, and one of his assertions is that happiness and the
worthwhile life is one of our main driving forces – in some ways
the primary one. If a person gets clear on his or her values,
the most important one, the top priority, will reveal what this
person considers a worthwhile life – the happy life.
And happiness is an end, not a means to something else, he
claimed. Since e.g. money is just a means, having money does not
make you happy. Furthermore happiness must be pretty much
self-sufficient, stable and independent of the happenings of
life: When you are happy, you're happy, and not afraid, not even
of loosing your happiness. (If you were, you wouldn't be happy!)
Aristotle on the Worthwhile Life
To Aristotle the happy life is a life that has activity that we
are good at and which is important and worth doing.
He pointed to three kinds of life that might make you happy: a
life of pleasure, a life ofpolitics (public service), and a life
of study. In the Eudemian Ethics (a treatise), he states that
the happy life must combine the features of all three (pleasure,
public service and study).
Yes, Aristotle was a wise man. Even though he lived more than
2.300 years ago, his texts are still being read and his thoughts
and conclusions are still relevant today.
Where to Look for Answers
Another question is this: Apart from the founding fathers of
western thought (like Aristotle), is it even important to check
out the opinions of the philosophers throughout the ages – or is
it perhaps more interesting to look at the people who are alive
today and experiencing happiness?
Well, happiness is an experience, it's not something you 'think'
or 'philosophize'. So I would recommend asking the modern day
experts in happiness:
Wise Modern Teachers Talk about Happiness
What follows are a handful of modern teachers and their messages
regarding happiness, etc. If you want to know more about them
(through their websites), you can click on their names:
Eckhart Tolle will tell you that if you are totally present
here and now you will be feel totally alive and happy. This is
true.
Byron Katie will tell you that if you examine all your
thoughts and let them go, you will end up feeling totally alive
and happy. This is also true.
Neale Donald Walsch will tell you that God is not
judgemental, but rather unconditionally loving, and also that
you and God are one and the same, and therefore you can safely
let go and let God. He will also state that you can replace the
word 'God' with the word 'life' if you prefer.
Arjuna Ardagh and
Gangaji will tell you that if you stop judging everything
and instead completely relax your ego, you will end up feeling
totally alive and happy. Again, this is true.
Countless other teachers have countless other bids, many of
which are quite valid and true.
Suggested Reading
If you want to know more, here is some suggested reading, based
on the teachers I have mentioned above:
The Power of Now and A New Earth
by Eckhart Tolle. He has written more books, but those are
the two most important ones, I think.
Loving What is: How Four Questions Can
Change Your Life by Byron Katie describes her
simple process for dealing with thoughts. She calls it the Work.
She, too, has written more books, but the first one covers it
nicely.
Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue:
Books 1 and 3 by Neale Donald Walsch. He has written MANY
more books and done other materials, some of them absolutely
great, but those two cover the basics.
Let Yourself Go is an
audio-book/audio-course by Arjuna Ardagh. He has written printed
books as well, but this audio-course is nice; both basic and
more advanced.
The CDs Who Are You? and Revealing
Strategies of Ego by Gangaji are examples of the her teachings.
You can also get both DVDs and printed books with her, but
personally, I like to hear her lovely, calming voice, so the
audio recordings appeal to me.
The soon-to-be-published book Let Go and Come Home:
10 Steps on the Fast Track to Happiness and Inner Peace
by Soren Lauritzen is my own quick course in understanding the
basics and using my method the Let Go Method. It will soon be
available both as printed book [LINK] and e-book [LINK].
I am also preparing a special report called Feel Truly
Alive! – Happiness, Wholeness and Coming Home Made Easy [LINK]
in which I will give you some easy to use tips and techniques
for attaining that experience that all people desire deep down.
The Funny Thing Is …
… we all know what happiness is. We have all experienced it,
at least in glimpses, because it's part of our most basic
nature. Happiness is in fact one of the experiential 'faces' of
our own basic nature (other 'faces' include inner peace,
unconditional love, feeling whole, etc.).
Since happiness feels so good, obviously we want to experience
it a lot, i.e. long term rather than short term.
When we only experience happiness fleetingly and not on a more
permanent basis, it's because we let something get in the way –
like clouds blocking the sun. That something is fear.
Fear blocks out happiness in precisely the same way clouds block
the sun. When we feel fear, we start to think that we must
defend ourselves – our defensive mechanisms come into play –
particularly our ego, and those mechanisms see to it that we do
CONTINUALLY DO NOT experience our true nature.
Happily (!) there are ways out of that mess. If you haven't
already read them, I would recommend the
'mother-page' of this one (Happiness) or the page about
letting go.
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