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.
Modified
January 2016.