I’ve recently come across Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari and oh god, its an amazing book.
What I really enjoyed was the philosophy behind the general ideas presented – that what we feel is simply a function of our biochemical processes going inside of the body.
It questions us – what derives consciousness? Is it these neurotransmitters? Or do we each have a “soul” living and breathing inside of us?
To those self aware enough – this means do we have to maximize the amount of dopamine and serotonin production in our bodies to be happy? Does it go beyond that? Is that why people get so addicted to drugs?
Along with happiness being derived from our neurotransmitters, the book also brings up the idea that the religious idea of Buddhism states that happiness is the end of all suffering. Which makes sense! If you’re not suffering, then you should be happy, right?
What explains the phenomenon of when we’re just sitting on the couch, watching t.v., and feeling so lazy and unmotivated? Doesn’t look like we’re suffering, right! But I’m sure all of us at one point have lashed at ourselves for merely wasting the day and not being productive. Yet when we were sitting on the couch watching t.v, we didn’t really feel that happy! Sure a good show on Netflix might come up…but do we really feel good about ourselves and productive? Compare the feeling of watching tv to the feeling of finishing a long work day, a challenging assignment, a big presentation – you’ll notice that you’ll feel two completely different things! One being something you had to work for, and another is one that’s simply already there.
Instant gratification is a part of the new coming generation. Generation Z’ers were born with the internet – they didn’t know what living without internet was like. Or living with dial up connection! Millennials grew up being bored and playing games like solitaire on the computer, while Generation Z’ers and the upcoming get the cool handheld games!
I might be going on a bit of an off tangent here, but the point is that happiness appears to be derived from different sources ultimately. What we perceive as happiness really depends on our upbringing. If you were poor, and made it out rich, you’re gonna be a hell of a lot happier if you were rich and remained rich, and for certain if you were rich and spent it all and became poor.
Attempting to translate that idea of money into our upbringings, we’ve grown up with different things and into different circumstances. One who wasn’t born with much family might really appreciate a rare family get together, whereas one with a big family might even dread those family get togethers!
Here’s where I try to tie in Buddhism – and that the definition of happiness from Buddhist principle is that happiness comes from ending all suffering. If we don’t suffer, then we should be happy, correct? Even though we can sit on the couch, watch t.v., and feel lazy and unproductive, we’re not really suffering, are we? And if we’re not suffering, we should be content.
Let this mindset sink in with you! You’re going to be happier off in the longer run.
Also, it’s 2021! Happy New Year! Learn how to manifest yourself starting today!
The new age is upon us!
Let’s kick some ass!