In the 4th century B.C. the Greek philosopher Aristippus articulated the philosophy of Hedonism. In short, he believed that the universal aim of all individuals was the pursuit of pleasure, particularly sensual pleasure. This was considered a fundamental human drive to be encouraged and acted upon as the basis of a good life.
In the century following, the philosopher Epicurus extended this perspective by emphasizing the importance of ethical considerations while simultaneously articulating a broader view of pleasure. He noted that behavior resulting in the suffering of others, however pleasurable in the moment, would return as suffering to oneself. He further suggested that pleasure should best be understood as an ongoing sense of contentment and serenity rather than a momentary experience.
Aristotle furthered these perspectives with his philosophy of Eudaimonia. He postulated that Eudaimonia, a state of inner balance and harmony, was the true basis of a happy and well-lived life. In modern times, often referred to as “human flourishing,” this state of well-being is considered an intentionally cultivated expression of our full human potential – body, mind, and spirit.
Similar views of a healthy human life are found in the tenets of the monotheistic religions, the philosophic traditions of the East, and the principles of developmental and positive psychology, which emerged in modern times. This remarkable consensus is both secular and religious and spans East and West. The good life results from the enjoyment of life’s pleasures, the cultivation of ethical and moral values, an inner sense of harmony and balance, and a supportive lifestyle that is thoughtful and intentional – a considerable movement from the earlier and far more limited Hedonistic viewpoint.
We could easily stop here at this universal formula for well-being. That would be a significant human achievement for any individual. Yet there is more. This commendable accomplishment can only take us so far. All of us have lived long enough to experience suffering and mental distress that, regardless of our growth and development, cannot be resolved using all our available resources. All of us have lived long enough to know that as much pleasure, wealth, and privilege as we can accumulate, they cannot reliably be counted on as a buffer against life’s most difficult challenges. Pleasurable experiences, psychological resources, and a healthy lifestyle contribute to a well-lived life, but they are insufficient to buffer the more insistent challenges of human life. They are not a failsafe insurance policy against suffering. For this, we must inquire deeper.
It was this seeming inevitabile and harsh reality of human suffering that motivated the young prince Siddhartha, who later became known as Buddha, to seek a comprehensive understanding of happiness and suffering. Is there a fundamental happiness, he inquired, at the core of human existence? Or, is suffering innate to human life and thus unavoidable? He wanted to answer these questions and go beyond to determine if it was possible for humans to develop a life of happiness and serenity that was permanent, resilient, and free of all suffering, and if it was possible then how could this be achieved?
The problem, he discovered, was twofold. We both misunderstand the experience of pleasure and we are simultaneously unaware of our inner untapped source of authentic happiness. Let’s first onsider pleasure. We define pleasure as an enjoyable, satisfying, and desirable experience. If asked, we can easily identify the objects, people, or experiences we consider to be pleasing and sought after.
If we look closely, we will notice that In routine day-to-day life we experience pleasure as a quality possessed by the pleasing individual, experience, or material object. We would say, “That person is pleasant or that experience was pleasurable.” That is how it appears to us, doesn’t it? The quality of pleasure appears to reside outside of us and within the desirable experience. It is as if we seek to possess the pleasure of these experiences. But is that actually how it is? Consider the following. If we eat a “good” meal we consider it, the meal, to be pleasurable. “What a good meal,” we might say. We think the quality of pleasure is in the meal itself. As a result, we may want to return again to the same restaurant.
But what if we continue to eat that meal for 10 more hours? Would it still be pleasurable or would it become quite unpleasant? If the quality of pleasure was innately in the meal itself, the more we ate the more pleasure we would experience. However, even though it appears that way, that is not as it is. The same could be said of a fan, which is pleasurable in the summer and unpleasant in the winter? If the quality of pleasure were imbedded in the fan it would always be pleasurable, wouldn’t it? But once again, that is not the case. Finally, consider the early phase of a romance. If pleasure were innate to that experience it would never fade, but rather grow over time. Yet we know that is not how it is.
So upon examination we discover that the belief that an experience, inner or outer, contains or possesses within itself the quality of pleasure is a misunderstanding. Or said another way, pleasure appears to exist in a manner that is actually different than how it truly exists. It appears to exist as a permanent quality of pleasurable objects, but that is not how it actually is. That is what we call an illusion, like the appearance of water on the distant desert road that appears to be real but is actually an illusion. If that is so, why does it seem that way? Why do we cling to that belief even when it’s actually untrue?
Consider this. All experience arises from the gathering together of many circumstances, conditions, and causes that create the experience in the moment. For example, take a rainbow. It arises because of the timely conjunction of moisture, sunlight, the phenomenon of reflection and refraction, the functioning of our retina, and mental consciousness, to name just the major factors involved. If any one of these factors changes the rainbow and its pleasure will dissolve.
Similarly all experience – a good meal, great relationship, or sweet thoughts – arise as a result of multiple factors and will cease to exist when one of those factors drops away. This is to say that the experience of pleasure, like all other experience, is transient, impermanent, and dependent on the timely aggregation of many factors. No single experience of pleasure can ever last. No object inner or outer contains within itself the quality of pleasure. Pleasure appears as a result of the fortuitous aggregation of certain factors and dissipates as these factors shift and change.
We can continue to inquire further, but this will only make it increasingly apparent that pleasure and the “happiness” that it brings is always the result of factors that are transient, unstable, and unreliable. Thus any pleasure related to an object or experience is certain to lose its luster over time. We can replace it with another experience, but that will eventually dissipate as well. In actuality we can and do spend our lives seeking pleasurable experiences one after another with increasing desire, attachment, and addiction. As we are chasing an illusion that cannot hold up past its moment, our search for happiness through an inner or outer object, although providing temporary relief and pleasure, invariably leads to loss, frustration, and confusion. For the pleasure seeker this requires living life on a treadmill, always moving faster and faster to gather new sources of pleasure. That is why, as a philosophy, Hedonism does not hold up to how life really is.
These understandings are not meant as an argument to renounce pleasurable experiences. That is not the problem. The point here is to renounce the illusion that such experiences can be sustained, form the basis of an enduring happiness, or overcome the suffering of life’s most difficult challenges. If we understand the impermanent nature of pleasurable moments we can enjoy them for what they are and then let go, neither holding nor chasing them. When we understand these truths we can enjoy life’s offerings without the loss of happiness and the suffering that results from the desire and craving for more and more. This understanding can provide the basis for a healthy relationship with life’s lovely but transient pleasures.
With this true understanding we can move beyond our obsession with temporary pleasure and the “happiness” it brings, and turn our attention to the discovery of our untapped and too often unseen inner source of enduring happiness and serenity. Authentic happiness is neither transient nor subject to erosion when facing life’s challenges. This inner well-being, alluded to by Aristotle, is present in each of us, already and always. The path that takes us to that natural well-being was the essential discovery of Siddhartha. He demonstrated with his life and teachings that self-knowledge, gained through meditative practice and deep inquiry is the basis of an enduring well-being.
Contrary to common opinion, relaxation has never been the goal of meditation, although that is a certainly a desirable side effect. Neither is meditation merely a self-help technique. It’s a method that enables us to first quiet our mind, then create a clear mental space, and finally, through insight and revelation re-establish a stable authentic sense of inner well-being.
That natural well-being, once re-established, is not reliant on external causes, conditions, or circumstances. As it is not dependent on anything external, it is resilient, steadfast, and remains a stable touchstone of serenity and happiness throughout life’s adversities. Much as the depths of the ocean are undisturbed by the movements of surface waves, so it can be with our life. Infused by wisdom and grounded in a natural state of well-being, the peace and contentment of our natural state-of-being anchors us as we traverse life’s challenges. That accomplishment is the traditional goal of the meditative process. It is no less so today that in previous times.
When learning meditation, it is important to learn it correctly. The results of practice are aligned with the quality, precision, details of the practice, and the intent and skill of the teacher/guide. If we want to become an expert tennis player, we seek an expert teacher and proper instruction. It is no different for meditation. If we are taught a relaxation technique, that is what we get. If we are taught to calm our mind, that is what we get – valuable, but there is more. But, if we are taught how to use a calm mind to discover our authentic nature, we shall discover gold, the steadfast peace and happiness we seek.
Mental calm allows us to see our life with a unique and refreshing clarity, free from past influences of family, education, and culture. We can understand and see how things actually are. This precise and accurate knowledge, free of confusion and illusion, is the basis for the end of mental distress, a correct understanding of transient pleasure, and the emergence of an authentic and enduring happiness and peace. A liberating and life-enhancing wisdom is progressively attained and translated into a lifelong peaceful, and happy day-to-day life. However inconceivable it may seem, with patience and perseverance, it is possible to train our self to remain calm inside even when confronting the most complex outer situations. This process of self-education and self-discovery begins with the inward turn and the practices of mind training.
The results of the meditative pathway are both immediate and cumulative. However, our efforts must also extend to the activities of daily life. There are methods we can simultaneously apply in our day-to-day life that will support and enhance our formal sitting practice. These include: daily mindfulness practices, active meditative listening, lifestyle choices which emphasize supportive environments, selfless service, and acts of loving kindness
As an example, consider the following day-to-day practice based on the teachings of the 8th century teacher Shantideva, teachings that are similarly aimed at developing an inner-based well-being. This practice is summarized in the following verse:
All the suffering in the world comes
from seeking pleasure for oneself.
All the happiness in the world comes
from seeking pleasure for others.
Here is a powerful method we can practice in daily life, right now. At first glance this practice may seem counter intuitive. Consider this. Everyone desires happiness and the avoidance of suffering. So “Why,” we can ask our self, “is our quest for happiness more important than that of others?” That makes no sense. As we begin to see the desire for happiness in others as equally deserving as our own, we begin to focus on their happiness as we do ours. Then, something unexpected begins to occur. We discover that caring for the happiness of others brings unexpected happiness to our self – a source of happiness that we completely control.
If we go further and place service to others above self-concerns, even greater happiness comes back to us. This is not a complicated effort. Fully listening to others with an open mind, small kindly acts of caring, observing our language for harmful words, and avoiding judgment and reactivity are ways of expressing care for the happiness of others, a tweaking of our daily activities that are easily within our reach. So as we progress in re-discovering our basic well-being, enduring happiness, and serenity through meditation, we simultaneously approach that same goal through fine tuning our daily attitudes and actions towards others. Try it for a week or more. Then, decide for your self.
We now have the understanding, formula, and remedy for the progressive and long-term experience of an enduring peace and happiness free from the winds of adversity. We first recognize that outer pleasures and their accompanying happiness are by nature impermanent. We then take an inward turn towards a permanent and stable source of well-being. We initiate and develop a stable meditative practice and we integrate attitudes, actions, and practices that support this effort into daily life. With this knowledge and effort our mind becomes a cause for a permanent, enduring, and natural well-being and happiness.
Increasingly, we enter the path that leads to the age-old dream of a fully realized life of human flourishing. This is not a state of being we have to wait for. We can start now, right now. This dream began with the inquiries of the ancient philosophers and scholars, and is reaching its conclusion through the efforts of modern day contemplative scholars, innovative researchers in neuroscience, and most importantly you and I. It is you and I alone that can engage the inner inquiry and adventure that realizes and becomes grounded in the basic truth, beauty, and goodness of our authentic nature. Then we shall progressively know a happiness and peace that is resilient, enduring, and surpasses reason or understanding. The choice is yours.
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