Happiness,as is evident,depends partly upon external circumstances and partly upon oneself. We have been concerned in this volume with the part which depends upon oneself, and we have been led to the view that so far as this part is concerned the recipe for happiness is a very simple one. It is thought by many, among whom I think we must include Mr krutch, whom we considered in a earlier chapter, that happiness is impossible a creed of a more or less religious kind. It is thought by many who are themselves unhappy that their sorrows have complicated and highly intellectualized sources. I do not believe that such things are genuine causes of either happiness or unhappiness; I think they are only symptoms. The man who is an unhappy creed, while the man who is happy will adopt a happy creed;each may attribute his happiness or unhappiness to his beliefs, while the real causation is the other way round.Certain things are indispensable to the happiness of most men, but these are simple things:food and shelter, health and love,successful work and the respect of one’s own herd.To some people parenthood also is essential. Where these things are lacking, only the exceptional man can achieve happiness, but where they are enjoyed,or can be obtained by well-directed effort, the man who is still unhappy is suffering from some psychological maladjustment which , if it is very grave, may need the services of psychiatrist, but can in ordinary cases be cured by the patient himself, provided he sets about the matter in the right way.Where outward circumstances are not definitely unfortunate, a man should be able to achieve happiness, provided that his passions and interests are directed outward, not inward. It should be our endeavor therefore, both in education and in attempt to adjust ourselves to the world, to aim at avoiding self-centred passions and at acquiring those affections and those interests which will prevent our thoughts from dwellling perpetually upon ourselves. It is not the nature of most men to be in a prison, and the passions which shut us up in ourselves constitute one of the worst kinds of prisons.Among such passions one of the commonest are fear, envy, the sense of sin, self-pity and self-admiration. In all these our desires are centered upon ourselves:there is no genuine interest in the outer world, but only a concern least it should in some way injury us or fail to feed our ego. Fear is the principle reason why men are so unwilling to admit facts and so anxious to wrap themselves round in a warm garment of myth. But the thorns tear the warm garment and the cold blasts penetrate through the rents, and the man who has become accustomed ti its warmth suffers far more from these blasts than a man who has hardened himself them from the first. Moreover, those who deceive themselves generally know at bottom that they are doing so, and live in a state of apprehension lest some untoward event should force unwelcome realizations upon them.
One of the greatest drawbacks to self-centered passions is that they afford so little variety in life.The man who loves only himself cannot, it is true, be accused of promiscuity in his affections, he is bound in the end to suffer intolerable boredom from the invariable sameness of the object of his devotion.The man who suffers from a sense of sin is suffering from a particular kind of self-love.In all this vast universe the thing that appears to him of most importance is that he himself should be virtuous.It is a grave defect in certain forms of traditional religion that they have encouraged this particular kind of self-absorption.
The happy man is the man who lives objectively,who has free affections and wide interests, who secure his happiness through these interests and affection and through the fact that they, in turn, make him the object of interest and affection to many others . To be the recipient of affection is a potent cause of happiness, but man who demands affection is not the man upon whom it is bestowed . The man who receives affection is, speaking broadly, the man who gives it.But it is
useless to attempt to give it as a calculation, in the way in which one might lend money at interest, for a calculated affection is not genuine and is not felt to be so by the recipient.
What then can a man do who is unhappy because he is encased in self ?So long as he continues to think about the causes of his unhappiness,he continues to be self-centered and therefore does not to get outside the vicious circle;if he is to get outside it,it must be by genuine interests, not by simulated interests adopted merely as a medicine, Although this difficulty is real, there is neverthless much that they can do if he is rightly diagnosed his trouble.If, for
Happiness,as is evident,depends partly upon external circumstances and partly upon oneself. We have been concerned in this volume with the part which depends upon oneself, and we have been led to the view that so far as this part is concerned the recipe for happiness is a very simple one. It is thought by many, among whom I think we must include Mr krutch, whom we considered in a earlier chapter, that happiness is impossible a creed of a more or less religious kind. It is thought by many who are themselves unhappy that their sorrows have complicated and highly intellectualized sources. I do not believe that such things are genuine causes of either happiness or unhappiness; I think they are only symptoms. The man who is an unhappy creed, while the man who is happy will adopt a happy creed;each may attribute his happiness or unhappiness to his beliefs, while the real causation is the other way round.Certain things are indispensable to the happiness of most men, but these are simple things:food and shelter, health and love,successful work and the respect of one’s own herd.To some people parenthood also is essential. Where these things are lacking, only the exceptional man can achieve happiness, but where they are enjoyed,or can be obtained by well-directed effort, the man who is still unhappy is suffering from some psychological maladjustment which , if it is very grave, may need the services of psychiatrist, but can in ordinary cases be cured by the patient himself, provided he sets about the matter in the right way.Where outward circumstances are not definitely unfortunate, a man should be able to achieve happiness, provided that his passions and interests are directed outward, not inward. It should be our endeavor therefore, both in education and in attempt to adjust ourselves to the world, to aim at avoiding self-centred passions and at acquiring those affections and those interests which will prevent our thoughts from dwellling perpetually upon ourselves. It is not the nature of most men to be in a prison, and the passions which shut us up in ourselves constitute one of the worst kinds of prisons.Among such passions one of the commonest are fear, envy, the sense of sin, self-pity and self-admiration. In all these our desires are centered upon ourselves:there is no genuine interest in the outer world, but only a concern least it should in some way injury us or fail to feed our ego. Fear is the principle reason why men are so unwilling to admit facts and so anxious to wrap themselves round in a warm garment of myth. But the thorns tear the warm garment and the cold blasts penetrate through the rents, and the man who has become accustomed ti its warmth suffers far more from these blasts than a man who has hardened himself them from the first. Moreover, those who deceive themselves generally know at bottom that they are doing so, and live in a state of apprehension lest some untoward event should force unwelcome realizations upon them.
One of the greatest drawbacks to self-centered passions is that they afford so little variety in life.The man who loves only himself cannot, it is true, be accused of promiscuity in his affections, he is bound in the end to suffer intolerable boredom from the invariable sameness of the object of his devotion.The man who suffers from a sense of sin is suffering from a particular kind of self-love.In all this vast universe the thing that appears to him of most importance is that he himself should be virtuous.It is a grave defect in certain forms of traditional religion that they have encouraged this particular kind of self-absorption.
The happy man is the man who lives objectively,who has free affections and wide interests, who secure his happiness through these interests and affection and through the fact that they, in turn, make him the object of interest and affection to many others . To be the recipient of affection is a potent cause of happiness, but man who demands affection is not the man upon whom it is bestowed . The man who receives affection is, speaking broadly, the man who gives it.But it is
useless to attempt to give it as a calculation, in the way in which one might lend money at interest, for a calculated affection is not genuine and is not felt to be so by the recipient.
What then can a man do who is unhappy because he is encased in self ?So long as he continues to think about the causes of his unhappiness,he continues to be self-centered and therefore does not to get outside the vicious circle;if he is to get outside it,it must be by genuine interests, not by simulated interests adopted merely as a medicine, Although this difficulty is real, there is neverthless much that they can do if he is rightly diagnosed his trouble.If, for