| Blogs > bondjam33 > The pursuit of happiness |
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The pursuit of happiness I have often thought about the balance between individual happiness and the sum of human happiness. Is there some kind of cosmic adding machine that tots up the sum after giving each and every one of us a happiness quotient? The Care Bears have their caring meter, does the Earth have a happiness meter? Looking round the world it is easy to see that there are huge numbers of people who would appear to have much less than their fair share of happiness and it is tempting to think that this is linked to health, wealth and material possessions - so the happiness meter is heavily weighed down by all those people suffering deprivation , hunger and hardship -only marginally offset by the few who are wealthy , healthy and living an easy life.As a 'happy' person myself does my individual happiness have any significant effect on the sum? Am I happy because my wife and I are reasonably able to support myself and my family and I suffer few hardships or health worries? The fallacy of this was brought home to me forcefully when a young woman from my 's school gave a report of the school trip to Lesotho and showed some photographs of their visit to one of the poorest villages in one of the poorest countries in the world.They were greeted by all of the local who clamoured to hold their hands and fought for positions as close to the group of strangers as they could get. The faces on these could not have been happier - although they have no running water (the school team were to deliver a piping system and to dig trenches to install a tap - one tap only -for the village to bring water from a well half a mile away). The whole village was mobilised to entertain and welcome their visitors ; no one seemed to notice how different these people were - or even to care one jot if they did notice. This is something which has struck me whenever I have seen videos and photographs of Europeans/Americans going to Africa.The people were genuinely happy because they could make others happy and enjoy each others company for the sheer joy of being together and meeting new friends. I contrasted this with the way strangers are treated in our culture and the suspicion which characterises meetings between different people and I concluded that maybe I am not as happy as I should be and that I should learn to accept people no matter how different they are because the sum of human happiness is not measured by what you have or how you view yourself but in what you think of other people and how you bring them into your life. We are not happy as individuals , we are happy as human beings; social animals who must be in groups to be truly happy and the bigger the group the bigger the sum of human happiness. Despite thousands of years of religious teaching and philosophical thought perhaps we still need to learn that we are all one group, one family and we are so much happier if we share in everyone else's happiness as if it was our own.Perhaps the greatest lesson I take from this is that making someone else miserable does not increase your own happiness but actually diminishes it.The sum of human happiness is what is within each and every one of us and we all share in it with each and every other member of the human race. |
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11/21/2012 7:29 am |
Excellent post bondjam... a very good read! I am also a happy individual, and I can only hope in being so that I add to the happiness of those around me. "Follow your bliss"......Joseph Campbell
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Good blog, Bondjam. HAPPINESS (Definition by Og Mandino) "Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself".   Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.(Khalil Gibran)
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Thanks for commenting Meri. I was trying to bring out the point that happiness is shared and maybe I did not make that as clear as I might have. I am sure that individuals can be quite happy alone and that that also also adds to the sum but the whole of humanity benefits from shared happiness.
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Thanks to all who commented as this was my first blog and any encouragement is most welcome. A most gracious welcome ET. I will try to find the documentary to which you refer AneMac but I am not sure if it has ever been on UK television.
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11/28/2012 7:39 pm |
HI Bondjam......I really enjoyed your blog and like Sandy I am a happy person also and I hope that I add to the happiness of those around me. It is such a joy to be in chat with a person as sensitive and kind as you. I will choose faith over fear.
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