Gabor Szendi:
The broken winged bird of happiness

Our world's happiness myth might have evaporated, to say the least, when Robin Williams, who always played humorous, warm-hearted roles, was found hanged, or when Philip Seymour Hoffman died, saturated in narcotics in his bathtub. Such disappointing turning-points could form a long list, but the world doesn't pay much attention to such news.

 

 

Because there is nothing else, and there is nothing better, we cannot imagine any other kind of happiness, and we want to believe fitfully in the beneficial effects of rising up, and becoming rich. We want to believe that those people, who have been given what others can only dream about, may simply not have been able to take advantage of their great opportunity. But if we scratch the world of stars a little more, or the lives of those who have sold their souls for their ascension, we see that, above a certain level of prosperity, for many people, human nature turns away from itself.

What kind of happiness does the unlimited use of extreme stimuli lead to? Is an excessive amount of using drugs, drinking, sex and shopping really happiness? The famous rat experiment comes to mind, where an electrode was inserted into the reward system of a rat's brain, and the rat kept pressing the pacing trigger until it died of starvation and thirst. We do not have to go far for human examples. Many people, knowing that they are harming themselves, still cannot and do not want to give up alcohol, smoking, sweets, gambling, etcetera.

Empty happiness

So, there is something wrong with our concept of happiness. Or am I mistaken, and it is only true for the corrupted top ten thousand? Well, unfortunately this is not the case. Those who have been fortunate enough to "ascend" only show what someone does when they are able to bombard the brain's reward center with a variety of stimuli. The average person does the same thing with their limited tools, or as it happens gets sick of "unhappiness" because they feel frustrated with their deprivation. Out of around ten million Hungarians, one million have alcohol problems, one and a half million are depressed, and sedatives and antidepressants comprise the biggest turnover in pharmacies. As above, so below: everyone is suffering from the same false concept of happiness. One person because they have reached it, the other because they can never reach the "peak". But then, where are the happy people?

The treadmill of happiness

The search for happiness was born with welfare states. Contrary to all assumptions, and despite the fact that income per capita has increased over the decades in developed countries, the average happiness level has remained virtually a horizontal line. Happiness research has slowly discovered that this is due to the rapid deterioration of the magic of novelty. To remain happy to the same extent, continuous gains, accumulation and growth are needed. This phenomenon was named 'The treadmill of happiness.' Only continuous struggle can maintain the same level of happiness. The message of the mid-life crisis is that you won't now achieve anything that you have not already achieved.

In a consumer society, happiness itself is constantly dictated by consumption. Those who cannot consume feel deprived and therefore unhappy. But as we have seen, top consumers are no better off. Consumer society needs well-functioning people. People who want to "prosper", that is, who bow their heads to the yoke and are subjugated by the social rewards, and punishment. A reward center and an anxiety center are built into everyone's head; and this is the route to control people. Anyone who works well can buy the goods offered and be "happy". Those who are lazy, stupid, or dreamers, do not get to enjoy the pleasures. The miserable artist, the indigent philosopher, are the by-products of capitalism. They are looking for another kind of happiness. Good luck, the production-centered world sends the message to them.

The roots of happiness

But why do we feel happiness? Our mental qualities and psychic mechanisms have been shaped by evolution for millions of years. If we can feel happiness today, it must have been useful and meaningful in our process of becoming human. But what kind of happiness did people of tribal societies experience? Today's individual lifestyle and thinking only goes back a few hundred years. Previously, the soul of the man was merged with the tribe, it existed only in the tribe and for the tribe. There was no separate individual, and the happiness of each person depended on the welfare of the tribe. Aristotle knew this feeling, and called it eudaimonia, meaning a life guided by virtue or good spirit. The meaning of eudaimonic happiness was formulated by the Mayans hundreds of years ago as:

"Every human creature has a Nagual that defines their personality and makes them different from everyone else. Their life mission depends on their abilities, attitudes, virtues and mistakes, as defined by their Nagual. Nagual is nothing more than a divine thing that guides and helps humans. This is their gift, their boon, their responsibility, and if they give up their mission, they will fall ill or even worse, die. " Nagual and Daimon are the same thing: our mission is community service to the best of our knowledge. We should get to know our abilities and opportunities and develop ourselves for the community. This is what humanistic psychology today calls self-actualization.

During human evolution we were originally programmed for eudaimonic happiness, because our lives, successful breeding and welfare depended on the tribe's wellbeing. The person and their community were inseparable units.

The Bhutan tragedy

Bhutan is a tiny country with 700,000 inhabitants in a valley of the Himalayas. It was founded in 1616 by a Buddhist priest who escaped from Tibet, and people lived in such happiness and harmony that the movie "Lost Horizon" was made about them. The lives of the Bhutanese people were simple: they grazed their animals, talked by the fire in the evenings, respected their king, and had no great desires. Crime, television and the American model of life were unknown. By the mid-1970s, Bhutan was completely isolated from the rest of the world. Then an enlightened ruler came to the throne, announcing the Gross National Happiness program, which was determined to oppose the Western model, which is concentrated on Gross Domestic Product. Happiness researchers flocked to the country and began surveys, with questionnaires and concepts used in Western countries, and gave advice on how to increase happiness. The four pillars of G(ross)N(ational)H(appiness) were: sustainable development, the preservation and enhancement of cultural values, the preservation of the natural environment, and the foundation of good governance.

First the Bhutanese football team was formed. Then a giant screen was set up for the Bhutanese people to watch the team's performance at the World Cup. People got to know about television, and the enlightened ruler felt like he could not deprive his people of this enjoyment. Pictures of western lifestyle poured into Bhutan through forty TV channels. For the first time, the population were shocked to see action movies in which people massacre each other, and began to envy the previously unknown wealth and prosperity. They became used to it, and in Bhutan crime, violence and drug use suddenly escalated. Conversation ceased, and instead everyone sat in front of the TV. It became awkward to wear national costume, and folk traditions seemed obsolete. Suddenly everyone wanted to be happy, as seen in the movies.

Bhutan's story shows what happened in the Western world over hundreds of years, but as if in a speeded-up movie. Capitalism relies on the satisfaction of basic instincts. Everything that is irresistibly enticing promises to satisfy these instincts. Eating, drinking, sex, safety, curiosity, power. If the individual is deprived of community, they will become little more than a dressed, talking, intelligent animal.

Eudaimonia today

Nowadays, it may seem that only the privileged few experience eudaimonia, and only people who live or die for art or science can experience it on a daily basis. However, this is wrong. A good spirit guides everyone who is moved by true human and moral values. Moral goodness is a community value regardless of the age and the time. Anyone who seeks happiness without detriment to others, who strives for happiness for their closer, or more distant family, who commiserates with the needy, can transcend material existence and live in eudaimonia.

Enjoying a work of art is a typical eudaimonic experience, as great creations always allow the experience and understanding of collective truths. Man is inherently an intelligent being. Eudaimonia is when we feel something meaningful that moves us. Any job can be done well enough to be given a salary. But a job can also be done with passion, and there is no external reward for this. The inner reward is that we feel we are in our right place, we are needed, develop ourselves, and are absorbed in our work.

Happiness does not reside in our circumstances, but in us. We just need to learn this again.

 

References

Szendi G: Meaningfull suffering: happiness. Jaffa, Budapest, 2014