Paste your essay What does it mean to be “fully human”? Does it mean that we have to discover who we really are? Do we have to become closer to God or some other deity? Over the years there have been many philosophers, scholars, and gurus that have been vocal of what they believe makes a person “fully human.” According to Buddha, “separation from what is pleasant is suffering” (Strong 25). And Marshal Sahlins once stated, “The world's most 'primitive' people have few possessions, but they are not poor” (Sahlins 44). Maybe they were all right in a way. Maybe being fulfilled means to align oneself to what would truly make one at peace in this world and to leave the rest by the wayside. And I submit that these often cryptic messages are what life is supposed to be about: How to go through a very short life, an often repetitious life, being completely content.
You see, while they rarely admit as such, most people in this world often take for granted that old readings have valuable life lessons in them. Granted, most of them are completely arcane and convoluted, and I would even accept that the authors, like today, were paid by the word or they were just trying to one-up the next guy. Either way, I do believe that old teachings, at least some, can impact your—or my—life for the better. It is easy to get lost along the way in this world. Everything moves at lightning pace. The competition is fierce and, admittedly, sometimes it can seem like it is all too much to handle. Over the years, and after these reading, I have come slowly to understand that my way of doing things may have not been in my best interest—health and mind. You see, my limitation, and I believe others may have this problem too, is maybe I do not know what I want. Or as a chewed-up quote I heard someone say once, "it's ok to think about what you want to do until it's time to start doing what you were meant to do." Somewhere along the way I forgot that. So, I posit to you, the hopefully open-minded reader, to take a step back and truly think about what it is that you are actually good at, and what you love doing more than anything in this world. Because I can promise you here and now that a vast majority of people do not know what they really want. Ergo, I will attempt to illustrate how people prevent their own true happiness because they really have no clue want they want out of life.
The standard way of thinking about happiness has it that in order to be fulfilled/happy in today’s world one has to be successful. And while being successful is, at least in America, praised and encouraged it will not necessarily bring one joy. One can certainly admit that this viewpoint has some truth to it. In fact, according to a paper published by the American Psychological Association, “focusing one’s life around the acquisition of money, possessions, and status saps one’s spirit and undermines one’s quality of life”(Dittmar 879). Meaning, happiness and being successful are not proportional by any means. What is interesting to note is that this study was from a culmination of multiple independent studies gathered over decades, which investigated the connection between an individuals’ materialistic values, meaning how much of a priority does a person put towards the acquisition of possessions, money, and status, and their personal well-being (Dittmar 878-879). And respondents reported “less happiness and life satisfaction, lower levels of vitality . . . and [found] finding that materialism is negatively associated with personal well-being” (Dittmar 879). So, what does this all really mean? Well, how many of us measure our accomplishments and success to those around us. We constantly see our friends, neighbors—complete strangers—driving the brand new car, buying that dream home with the white picket fence and we tell ourselves, “I want that. I need that.” And so, we gravitate towards professions which may pay well, but do not match our personality or our true talents.
Therefore after years of hard work and sleepless nights, we begin at a job which we believe, at least in the beginning, would fit us perfectly. We start early, stay late, and work the weekends in order to stand out from the rest. Our hard work is sometimes recognized and, thus, a promotion follows. Now at first that huge raise or promotion will more than likely create instantaneous euphoria, but unfortunately, and studies have proven this fact, that feeling is only short term. That is, one might be happy for a month, six months, perhaps years. But after that initial joy wears off, one will constantly have a need to replace it with an even larger salary and a job position with an even higher title. As a consequence, one will become burned-out from the day-to-day stressors. Over the years, there have been many professionals who have stressed the relationship between the levels of aspiration and the subsiding, if not the complete halt, of happiness. According to an article in the Journal of Socio-Economics, researchers have termed this effect as the “hedonic treadmill” (Binswanger 2). This effect is characterized by people who continuously adjust their ambition levels to higher and higher income levels; however, in the long run causes one’s happiness to severely stagnate or stop completely (Binswanger 2). Given this information, I believe we are all in agreement on how counter-productive this mentality can be.
Overtime any semblance of a life would be lost, and the physical, emotional, and obvious mental fatigue would cause overwhelming stress. In fact, I would argue that there are everyday instances of people dragging-on even though they are completely miserable. By way of example, one only has to only look at the faces and/or eyes of people passing by us every day—tired, dark circles, and a look of absolute defeatism. Sure they may seem happy and satisfied on the surface if a conversation were to commence, but underneath that disguise is an overstressed and exhausted individual. And regrettably this observation is back-up by many leading behavioral theorists from the University of South Carolina who found that depressed subjects could be “significantly differentiated . . . by their expressionless or negative facial behaviors, [and] consistently demonstrate[d] that depression [is] was marked by an absence of positive facial signs, particular smiling” (Julian 5-6). We see this every day. We end up putting ourselves in a box, pushing ourselves because of our misguided certainty that our job—this thing—we will do forever. Unfortunately, this false sense of purpose leaves us wandering through life without ever knowing true bliss.
Now my personal experience may be anecdotal but I wholeheartedly agree that there is a direct correlation between happiness and success. In this world, every day seems to be in a race. Everyone seems, at least to me, to strive for their particular goal, whatever it may be. I am guilty of this mindset too. For years I had a set of goals which I have told myself I would accomplish, and indeed I have. However, over time, I have come to the subtle realization that the goals I have accomplished are no longer as important to me as they once were. Maybe they never were? For me, I have always liked computers. Writing some code to solve some problem has always been fascinating. Connecting the dots and working out a viable solution was fun; I liked it. However, I feel myself becoming exceedingly drained by doing what I used to enjoy—because working on programming projects fifteen hours each day is perhaps more than I bargained for. Or, maybe programming is not my true calling. Which brings us full circle to the problem at hand: people do not know what they truly want. A study by Professor Dennis R Laker upholds that this issue is widespread, warning that
Individuals are attracted to a particular job or career because of the assumptions they make and the beliefs that they hold about that job or career. For many students, these assumption and beliefs are frequently in error. Left unchallenged, these false beliefs and assumptions could influence their career-related decisions and lead many of them to pursue careers that might leave them dissatisfied and unfulfilled. (Laker 62)
Of course this predicament is nothing new. According to Buddha, “dukkha,” or mental dysfunction or suffering, arose from false knowledge. I believe we are all guilty of this outlook. The imagined lifestyle once all the hard work is done is often the biggest motivator to continue with a course of action we would otherwise never try. For instance, the second of the four noble truths, which is part of the teachings that encapsulate the Buddhist beliefs, can be best summarized as an “ongoing desire, a thirst that we cannot assuage, a clinging to possessions, to persons, to life itself” (Strong 25). Now, I am not saying that I am unhappy, I have no reason to be. I am saying, however, that true happiness is a state of mind. By breaking free from the cycle of always wanting more and more, and by working towards goals which actually put a smile on your face. Well, then that is when life truly leads to nirvana. Because regrettably, “man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble” (Book 49). And the alternative is a life of constant regret and that feeling, you might recognize it sometimes, that life has slipped passed you—that the future is behind you; that it has always been behind you. Do not wait until it is too late to re-evaluate your life.
Moreover, there have been plenty of studies to support my case. In fact, a journal article from the Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, brings to light that happiness is the cause of success, not vice versa. In the article, the authors showcase several examples on how happiness helps career achievement. Interestingly enough, some of the most obvious assumptions now have truth behind them: (1) Happy people are more accomplished in the workplace than that of their unhappy counterparts; (2) The optimism of happy people also translates into increased self-confidence and better performance in a variety of tasks; and (3) People who reported being happy at an earlier time in their life than unhappy people, obtain higher incomes at a later point in time (Boehm 201, 206-207). Essentially, happiness promotes career success. Now, this discovery should come as no surprise. After all, one can easily understand how being happy at a job would have its benefits. As an illustration, a happy person would have the drive and commitment to see that their company succeeds. Furthermore, the actions taken by the happy employee would hopefully be recognized his or her superiors rendering acknowledgement of said commitment and/or a promotion.
These findings challenge the work of earlier assumptions, and I would argue Western society as a whole, who tended to agree that happiness follows success. For years it has been understood that success leads to happiness. From childhood, parents and teachers push us for excellence in everything. Perfect scores on homework and test are to be expected (Ablard). Because of course, these, among other things, are the key to attaining what is sought after in life. However, functioning in this setting for years leads us to integrate these universally accepted values and thereby measure our worth, success, and happiness by the same conditions. As a result, life becomes nothing more than a bottomless pit of unrelenting tensions.
With that being said, it is indisputable that many will probably disagree with the assertion that success follows happiness. After all, this matter has been commonly accepted for generations. So, at this point I would like to raise some possible objections; first, I could be accused of ignoring the obvious: subsistence requires money. After all, being happy does not buy material goods, and Aristotle even acknowledged external goods are necessary in order to achieve Eudaimonia, or the good life (Keller-Lapp). Thus, people will argue and say, “What good does it do to be happy if your body is wasting away.” To put it another way, happiness is a state of well-being, whereas humans are physical beings in need of sustenance and material needs. That said, a person cannot and will not experience anything joyful with a degrading physique. Material needs must be satisfied. Money is the means of accomplishing that.
Further, having money allows one to consider what one would like to indulge in for the day. Having money allows a person to adapt to different circumstances. For example, hiring a housekeeper to clean his or her home so as to have a day to themselves. It should come as no surprise that the day-in-day-out grind of work can definitely take its toll. Add in the errands and weekend chores and one can feel exhausted and, over time, depressed. Thus, the benefits of having money allow for independence. Having the freedom and ability to delegate tasks which would otherwise add to an already stressful life leads to a freedom of choice of one’s hobbies. In short, money permits autonomy, which frees a person to seek whatever makes them happy (Smith 9, 10-13).
I will not deny this view; I cannot deny this view. I will concede that money is a considerable factor. However, at the same time, I still insist that loving what you do and doing what you love will not only bring about contentment but success as well. In fact, through these readings, I like to suggest that some teachings would not discourage this perspective so long as it avoided the extremes. For example, Buddha spoke of the “middle way” whereby people follow a path between the excesses of indulgence and asceticism (Strong 25). He was concerned that people eliminate suffering and dissatisfaction from their lives. And once successfully removed, such lives are good lives. Additionally, Confucius preached about participating in deeds which would help humanity and in return would build good character (De Bary 90-91, 95, 97). Now, who is to say that a well-off person does not find happiness in volunteering at a shelter on the weekends? Indeed, both teachers dared their respective students to discover who they really are and find the answers to their life questions. Thus, given these reading and my subjective input, it is with a strong recommendation that those reading this piece take heed: do what will give you peace of mind.
In addition to the aforementioned readings, the one reading that most people in today’s world would have the most in common with, or at least be able to draw one example from would be from Aristotle’s work, “Nichomachaean Ethics.” For most people, the word “happiness” insinuates joy: to experience great pleasure or delight. However, Aristotle coined the term “Eudaimonia” to speak about happiness. For Aristotle, happiness is not a state of mind; it is something else entirely. One could say that Eudaimonia is a persons’ overall subjective well-being. Now, there are numerous methods in which Aristotle shows what happiness is comprised of. However, his approach to the question of what exactly “is peculiar to man” lead us to the conclusion that living well and doing well will lead to a virtuous life, which in turn leads to happiness (Aristotle 60). Understand, as stated by Aristotle, “Happiness . . . is something final and self-sufficient, and is the end of action” (Aristotle 60). In short, happiness is not only the purpose of life but is also the finale. Do not postpone your happiness. Find whatever it is that makes you whole and go for it.
I now acknowledge that the only real goal I know I want out of life is to find something that matches with my personality and talents, happiness will follow; I suspect others have the same desire as well. Happiness seems to be an elusive thing for most. Finding something that one enjoys will not only bring about happiness, but I am convinced success will follow, too.
in here…