Art and Science of Happiness
(From
the book “Nature
of Human
Thought” (second edition))
All of us aspire to have a
good life
and happiness. There are as many definitions of happiness as there are
people. But generally people want a
decent place to live, mobility, good education for their children,
clean
environment, a challenging workplace, good and wholesome entertainment
and
enough money to meet their usual daily requirements. These are the
issues
around which the modern industrial societies have evolved and yet they
have
created the biggest problem of totally unsustainable lifestyles fueled
by
greed. Thus the climate change, economic meltdown and other consequent
social
problems are direct result of our greed for resources and energy. Hence the control of greed or better yet the
sublimation of greed emotions into higher ones like humility and
simplicity can
lead to sustainability, happiness and a rewarding life.
Pursuit of happiness is
the goal of
all religions and almost all spiritual writings are about how to
achieve it. Most
of
the
religions have focused on renunciation and elimination of desire. Some use this to promise happiness in after
life. However one can find happiness in
this life and world. Based
upon the material in the previous chapters we will try to explore in
this essay
how one can lead a happy life by channeling our desires into fruitful
avenues
and by curbing or sublimating our greed impulses. All these strategies
combined
will lead us to a sustainable lifestyle.
Happiness
A young boy
went to a Guru and asked him how he can see God. The Guru immediately
saw that
the boy was an enlightened soul but too young to be educated in the
abstract
knowledge of Vedas and Upanishads. He
asked the boy whom he loved most. The
boy replied “My calf. I play with him
all the time. He is my true companion”. The guru asked the boy to think and meditate
on the calf. After some months the Guru
went to see what his young disciple had achieved and found him crying. “I am losing my mind”, said the disciple “The
calf has become so small that it sits on my palm”.
The guru advised the disciple to continue
meditating on the calf. After some time when the Guru visited the
disciple
again he was crying and said that now the calf has grown so big that it
reaches
the sky. Guru knew that the young
disciple was on the correct path. He
told him to continue further on the same path. Many years passed by
before the
Guru went to see his disciple. From the disciple’s face the guru knew
that he
had obtained happiness and had reached his destination. After great
difficulty
he was able to shake the disciple out of his Samadhi. On being asked how
he feels the disciple replied, “Sir, you, I, calf, sky and God are the
same!"
Focus on a
single thought or a desired object for a long time is the essence of
yoga
(called Sanyam in Patanjali Yoga) and
produces tremendous happiness. Concentration on a single thought for a
long
time might help stimulate or "tickle" the pituitary gland and gives a
sense of well being.
Happiness is a state of
mind. We feel happy and enjoy life through
our
senses and the mind. Brain processes
the information from the senses and our level of happiness is dictated
by its
processing power. A powerful processor which produces deep thought can
therefore extract more information from the sensory signals and hence
can give
us more happiness since the mind gets satisfied easily. A smaller
processor
obviously needs many more inputs to reach the same enjoyment or
satisfaction
level. Thus weaker brains need more resources to occupy them and this
leads to greed
and unsustainable lifestyle. Therefore one of the prerequisites to
having a
sustainable lifestyle is development of a powerful and smart brain.
Such a
brain allows us to think deeply or concentrate during which we can get
“lost”
in processing that information.
A powerful brain or a
processor also shifts
the priorities in life and helps in shifting the focus towards getting
personal
happiness through mental peace and less on material needs. When
concentration
on single thought is done regularly and continuously for a long time
then it
takes our mind away from our insecurities and hence gives us a feeling
of calmness
and well being.
The insecurity of human
beings comes
when they do not have anything to do. Thus activities such as hoarding
of
wealth, material goods etc. are the result of a shallow mind. Mind
seeks
enjoyment and gets it in activities like binge shopping etc. A mind
which is
very powerful is capable of finding enjoyment within itself and makes a
person
self-contented and happy. Thus the act of accumulation or hoarding of
anything
is a sign of a lower life form, since it is driven by fear complex of
loosing
out or not having enough.
An evolved human being on
the other
hand will try to hoard as little as possible and will possess only
those material
things required for his or her use and enjoyment. This is the essence
of
sustainability. Modern examples of evolved humans are Gandhi and
Einstein who
lived very simply and yet produced a very high quality of thought since
they
were very secure human beings.
Powerful
brain
Geneticists tell us that
we are born
with a certain type of brain and that puts a limit on its processing
power.
However any type of brain can be nurtured to work efficiently and it is
this
capability that needs to be imparted to all children. Surely there will
always
be differences between brains but with proper nurturing during
childhood the
average capabilities can be raised very high.
When we are young our
brains are
powerful and pliable. Primarily this is because it is relatively free
of
memories and psychological knots. Besides there are lots of sex
hormones
flowing through them. These chemicals are necessary and useful for
memory
enhancement and hence in producing a powerful brain. Thus to increase
the brain
capacity and have more focused thinking it is necessary that teenagers
should
be made to focus on various interesting things and less on sex. Too much sexual activity fritters these
chemicals away. Probably this was the basis of celibacy propagated by
all
religions in different civilizations.
Sexual abstinence is a
very difficult
thing to teach the teenagers. The evolutionary forces cause a
tremendous
hormonal flow in young people since procreation is the most important
part of
life. This hormonal flow should be utilized for making the brain
powerful and
should not be frittered away. Because of our hedonistic society we tend
to
create more sexual opportunities which sometimes result in
overindulgence. This
is disruptive and not very productive. Sex is enjoyable and when
practiced
among consenting adults in moderation is also good for human health.
Therefore it is difficult
to curb the
powerful sexual tendencies of the young people. Sex desire should not
be
suppressed but should be sublimated. We can do this by inspiring the
youngsters
and making them work hard so that they do not have much time to think
about sex
and related things. An empty mind is a devil’s workshop. This requires
that
parents and teachers create work environment for children which is
challenging,
interesting and physically taxing. A
“soft” society leads to obesity and compulsive sexual disorders.
If we want to shield the
children and
young adults against the disruptive “too much sex” society then we have
to
first put a reign on the behavior of the adults. If adults want sex to
be
depicted openly in mass media then it will automatically be seen by
children.
Nevertheless it is very difficult to censor out sexual content since in
an open
society adults have the freedom to do more or less whatever they want.
Thus the ancient Indian
schooling concept
of ‘Gurukul’ becomes useful where the children were put in the schools
and
colleges in isolation and where the focus was on Yoga, learning and
sexual
abstinence. The practice of Yoga by children will help them to develop
the
power of concentration which ultimately can produce a powerful brain.
Since the
brain is pliable during the impressionable age, teaching of Yoga in
schools
should be made compulsory.
However in the modern
world this
ancient Indian concept may prove difficult to sell. Also the teachers
of such
“gurukuls” have to be very disciplined and highly evolved human beings.
Presently teaching profession generally attracts only the lower strata
of the
society. Still we can aim and plan for modern “gurukuls” which can be
excellent
schools with focus on Yoga, moral science and sports, besides the
regular
subjects. Creation of very intelligent children and young adults who
will pass
out from such schools is necessary for the betterment of society.
At the same
time how do we create the conditions for us to think deeply and produce
powerful brain? Today’s society does not
put a premium on reading or thinking deeply on something.
The pace of life together with information
overload from TV, radio and other electronic media is creating a new
generation
of humans with very short time span focus.
Deep thought requires energy, application and will to achieve it. Short attention span does not require too
much effort and hence is easy on the mind.
However if we consciously create in our children from very early
age the
desire to read which will help them cultivate the habit of imagination
and
daydreaming, then there is a chance of creating a society which is more
focused
and happy.
Children who
have an active imagination daydream a lot. They create imaginary beings
though
fully conscious of the fact that they are make-believe entities.
Sociologists
have been baffled as to why children do this60.
A
possible
answer is that this is the origin of Sanyam
in children. The brain of active children is very powerful
and in the absence of any structured thought or focus, starts a movie
of
imagination. Once this movie is started then there is a continuous flow
of
thoughts in this direction and the movie gets bigger and bigger till it
takes
on a life of its own. Children do it because it is a genesis of deep
thought
and brings happiness to them. This daydreaming can only happen when the
child's
mind is not bombarded by external inputs, which in present-day
electronically
driven world is difficult to avoid.
Heightened
awareness
Production of huge human
brain is
still an evolutionary mystery. Its big size cannot be explained by the
pressures of evolutionary forces alone. I feel that it developed so
that we can
understand the universe and become aware of universal consciousness.
Hence hallmark of an
evolved brain is
that it becomes acutely aware of its surroundings and with its powerful
processor is able to expand its horizons to encompass our world, solar
system
and universe. This expansion gives us a tremendous sense of peace,
tranquility
and perspective on our life. This is the genesis of wisdom.
Also the expansion of our
horizons
gives us an awareness of reality and life in different dimensions. This
is the
genesis of “God Sense” that each one of us possesses irrespective of
our caste,
creed or religion. It is possible that our brains have this in-built
idea
because this earth was seeded by an intergalactic civilization (this
aspect is
explored further in Chapter 21) and hence through ages we have carried
that
genetic code through our ancestors who were more aware than us of the
reality
of other planets and of higher dimensional space. In fact as we evolve
technologically and otherwise this awareness will become stronger and
the
boundaries between our four and higher dimensions will become blurred. This concept is also mentioned in Patanjali
Yoga Darshan and the modern science and technology makes it possible to
visualize
it and probably experience it.
This awareness of higher
dimensional
space and reality can also make us fearless and remove our fear of
death since
death is a simple transition between various forms and dimensions. This
is also
the lesson of Gita. With fearlessness comes the ability to do new
things and
follow uncharted paths which can give us a quantum jump in our
technological
developments and understanding of natural forces.
Because we have roots of
advanced
galactic civilization hence the concept of gods with super human powers
and
dazzling lights are embedded in our memories. So is the desire in us to
travel
intergalactically. However with our present technologies it is not
possible to
do so. Presently the easiest and the most energy-efficient way to
travel from
one planet to another is via soul transfer. This has been preached by
almost
all religions throughout the ages where reaching heaven after death was
the
ultimate goal of existence. I believe
our ancestors understood that this was the easiest way to overcome gravity
barrier
of earth and hence the focus on future births in heaven etc.
Our roots in intergalactic
space also
made us aware and focused on heaven and hell concept. Heaven was always
the
great place where we originally came from and probably must have been a
very
technologically advanced civilization. It is also possible that this
was a
place devoid of any physical or emotional pain.
As we become
technologically advanced
and become gods ourselves we will eventually loose the “god” thought
and become
more tuned to making this world a heaven. Once that happens then we
will talk
less about heaven and future births and more about what is possible now
and can
be achieved. Also we will have no problem in being born again and again
on his
earth and with our technology will become an inter-solar and
intergalactic
traveling civilization - just what the gods may have been.
Nature
of
Desire
It is possible that as we
make our
brains powerful and expand the boundaries of our consciousness we may
also
desire more inputs and resources for it so that it can keep itself
occupied.
Thus a powerful brain will channel the desires into new avenues which
will
benefit the humanity more rather than our greed. In order to do so we
must
however first try to understand the desire emotion.
What is the
sociobiological basis of
desire? Why do human beings have it and what is the nature of its
fulfillment
and that of unfulfilled desires?
Desire manifests itself in
different
forms – lust, aim, ambition, control, goal, etc. However, the driving
force is
the same – power, fame and money and I think it ultimately boils down
to
control and hence power. Some also call it an ego trip.
Desire is fueled by
experience. A
living being wants to experience the world. This is an inherent trait
of all
life forms. We are wired for experience. Urge for maximization of
experience
fuels the desire. Whether the desire is for sex, money, fame etc. it is
driven
by the same need to have experience.
As our brains develop
(right from our
birth) the neurons need to form the memory pathways. This process is
accomplished by sensory perception where the inputs from the senses
form the
memory. We are hardwired to increase our experience and memories. This is the genesis of desire. Thus desire
and brain are interlinked. As long as
brain exists there will always be desire.
One of the outcomes of
desire is
possession. We feel a need to possess
whatever we desire whether it is a person, object or even an idea. This
possession
helps in maximization of experience. As we absorb this “experience”
through our
senses, our brain processes this information. It is during this process
that we
“decide” whether our desires are fulfilled or not.
Fulfillment of desires therefore helps us in
releasing the “possessions”. Thus a powerful processor or the mind can
get its
desires fulfilled quite easily without physically possessing the
objects of
desire. While on the other hand a weaker brain needs to possess lots
more
things for fulfilling them and this leads to greed. Thus to live a
sustainable
life it is necessary to have a powerful brain processor.
Desire is a useful and
necessary
emotion. It allows us to achieve
something and be active. Without desire we will be lifeless, dead or
like
stones. However what we need to do is to
channel our desires so that they get fulfilled without too much taxing
of
resources, materials and energy. For example a desire to invent a new
process,
to create a new thought or discovery does not require much energy or
resources,
say as that for possessing too many cars or luxury items like a 100 ft
yacht or
a private jet liner, etc! The desire for material goods which supply
our needs
and not our greed could be good for humanity at large and will lead to
sustainability.
One of the possible ways
to satiate
the desire for possession of material goods is sublimating it via virtual reality (VR)
tools.
As the technology for virtual reality systems evolves and VR becomes
more
realistic we will be able to take care of most of our desires with very
little
use of energy and materials. This will
hopefully lead us to sustainability. This concept is explained in more
details
in Chapter 24.
Satiation of desire
requires energy
and materials resources and excessive desire leads to greed and hence
to
unsustainability. The wisdom of “I” or
ego keeps a check on the desires. If not, then the mind goes into an
ever
expanding spiral of greed and excesses. Unresolved desires produce
memory knots
or stresses which have the mechanism of always directing the brain to
them and
creating anger, frustrations and hence depression.
This happens because the thought production
is channeled or influenced by the existing memories.
If the brain has more memory knots of unfulfilled
desires then the new thoughts will be centered and focused around them
leading
to anger, frustration etc.
A stressed mind gets angry
very
fast. Anger is an emotion, which occurs when things don't happen the
way we
want. Thus a mind which can coolly and calmly look at all the
possibilities
(deep thought helps do that) may have a better conflict and anger
resolution
capabilities than a shallow thinking mind. Thus insecurity and anger
may be
related.
As explained in earlier
chapters the
power of the brain processor is increased by availability of its
working
memory. This can happen with cultivation of deep thought so that the
dissolution of other memories and psychological knots takes place. As
this
memory increases the absorption and digestion of inputs also get
enhanced since
the mind becomes hungry for more experiences and this increases our
desires. As
our desires increase both in quantity and quality the powerful
brain/mind
complex starts looking for higher purposes. This “mind opening”
experience
allows interaction of mind with external and higher dimensional
knowledge space
and allows us to access the existing information from it -
the basis of probably most discoveries,
inventions etc.
One of the
by-products of the massive brain of humans is that we have the ability
to play
God. This means that we can change the
tapestry of nature by our technology.
Since each one of us has a limited time frame to live we have
this
arrogance that we should accomplish everything in our lifetime. This causes greed and ultimately misery. Nature also effects changes but those changes
take place in geological time scale and after the systems are in
dynamic
equilibrium with the surroundings. Human
mediated changes powered by greed do not allow the systems to remain in
equilibrium with the surroundings. That
is the reason for our creating problems with the environment and
producing
conflicts amongst each other.
However if we consider
that we are a
continuum, i.e. we will continue on this planet earth for a long time
in
different life forms and that all of us will work together for the
benefit of
mankind, then the task at hand looses a lot of its urgency and time its
immediacy. As we saw in Chapter 5, as individuals we have a free will
and work
for our own good but as a part of the whole mankind we all move towards
speeding up its
evolution.
The only requirement for
this scheme
to succeed is for reincarnation
to be a reality. For people who do not believe in it then the above
framework
can create conflicts and problems.
If we believe in
reincarnation then
the time stretches and we get a better perspective on life. It causes all our actions to become focused
on achieving the general good of mankind for its evolution on a large
scale.
With this perspective one also gets a global outlook and the country
boundaries
vanish. And this is the essence of being a human. In a way the
development of
science and technology allows us to proceed in this manner though most
of the
times we are not guided by the principle of continuum. Nevertheless the
desire
to leave a better world for our future generations is in effect the
product of
this idea. Still the issues of patents, technology and intellectual
property control
create hindrances in the free flow of ideas and technologies since our
greed
propels us to control them. The latter issue comes into play because of
our
insecurities which lead us to arrogantly focus only on our present
lifetime.
Nevertheless this behavior
cannot
change overnight but will happen slowly and I feel that in another
100-200
years we as human beings will become more benevolent and sharing.
Thus to live a happy and
sustainable
life we need to make our brain very powerful by Yoga and also by
conserving
energies which are too often frittered away in unfulfilled desires and
emotional knots. This process can also
help us in curbing our greed impulse so that all of us can work
together with
the available resources to make this world a better place where each
one of us
can live a sustainable and emotionally satisfying life.
©Anil K Rajvanshi, July
2009.