Having a husband that mainly works the night shift leads to many late night musings. I adore the peace of late night, the slight feeling of naughtiness that you’re awake when you probably shouldn’t be. There’s school the next day you know.
Many of my posts from this point on will probably be on the nature of happiness, like a little happiness series. Late night makes me happy, so let’s call this post number 1.
But that’s a misnomer. I don’t want to talk about late night, I want to talk about the whole nature of happiness.
Is the entire purpose of life to be happy? To ease suffering and negativity? To root out any feeling of disease or worry and replace it with pleasure and contentment? Or is the purpose to be able to recognise when you aren’t happy, to sit with that emotion, but basically to strive on anyway hoping that something different may be around the corner? Should you even hope for something different, or is that negating the possibility of happiness in the here and now?
The issues boils down to whether you believe that you can be in control of your own happiness. If you can, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t experience relentless contentment. Arguably, this view of happiness can be a bit pressurised - why hasn’t it happened for me yet? What am I doing wrong? Shouldn’t I just try a bit harder?
However, you might see happiness as a confluence of factors that are both under your control and at the mercy of the wide whims of the universe. How many times have we strived for something we’re sure we’ll make us happy, and 1) not got it or 2) got it, but felt strangely unsatisfied with the result. Conversely, consider the little snatches of pleasure when the world doesn’t appear to be leading that way, for example, the help of a stranger during a dark and windy storm when your car has broken down; or the way you get chatting to your neighbours when something negative happens in the local community and form unexpected friendships.
Buddhism takes a middle ground - it teaches us that we cannot control external events, but that this does not necessarily matter, as external events are not real and permanent - they are temporal. They cannot be relied upon to ‘give’ us happiness, although happiness may be a by product. Instead, the only reality is our own individual energy, which is connected to the energy of the universe and vibrates along with it. If we realise this ultimate truth, we are freed from suffering. As such, we are responsible for our own enlightenment, salvation and happiness. This is not a matter of pure faith in an abstract concept - Buddhism actually gives us practical tools for understanding, and connecting with, the ultimate truth via meditation, mindfulness and chanting. In Buddhist terms, practical action, combined with theoretical understanding, equals happiness and contentment.
