Hi Everybody,
We ended the last episode with some words from a very wise Buddhist teacher who put it to me once that if we think in terms of pursuing happiness in some way then we are very much on the wrong track. Where do we start? In which direction do we run? We come much closer to it he argued if we think of happiness as a sort of by-product, a quality that comes into our lives when we take action to create value in some way, particularly in ways that have beneficial effects in other people's lives.
It's fascinating to find that view echoed directly, even down to the choice of words, by a modern psychologist, when she writes in her recent book, The How of Happiness;
' ...even the familiar phrase ' pursuit of happiness ' implies that happiness is an object that one has to chase or discover...I prefer to think of ' creation' or ' construction' of happiness because research shows that it's in our power to fashion it for ourselves.'
So we are getting a closer fix on what we mean when we use this happiness word aren't we? It's certainly not just forcing ourselves to be cheerful regardless of what is going on. We don't get much joy if we try to chase it. And it doesn't just happen to us as a result of good fortune.
The kind of durable, deep-seated, and above all resilient well-being that we a re talking about can't simply be dependent upon the play of external events. This happens and we like it...and we're happy. That happens and we don't like it...and we're unhappy! A bit like a cork in a swell. Now up, now down, dependent upon what comes our way.
It can only come, we now understand, from one place, it has to come from within. We have to make it, through the values that we hold, and the choices that we make, and the kind of value-creating actions and responses that we fold into our lives.
Enough for today.
Thanks for reading.
Back next week asking the question...can we buy happiness?
See you then I hope.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle
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