Educational articles

You will be surprised, but since antiquity happiness has been a central question in philosophy. Not being, not consciousness, but happiness and fullness. By the way, philosophy was born to answer this question. What is happiness? What are the criteria for happiness? Is it possible to define them in any way?

How are we modern people different from the people of antiquity? For many of us, happiness is a subjective state. And here is the problem: if happiness is what we think or feel it is, then it becomes difficult to discuss it and to talk about it among ourselves. It is difficult to separate our illusion or image of happiness from certain criteria that can help us. To put it more sharply: if we do not have any criteria, we can fall into the trap of illusion. Then we would say: happy is someone who thinks he is happy. And if he is wrong? What if he likes to live with illusions? What if he has told himself that he is happy? Modern man does not like to take advice from outside - and this, incidentally, is the result of the development of 19th- and 20th-century society: we decide for ourselves, we know for ourselves. Of course it is risky to talk about happiness, but it is equally risky to think that you are the criterion. Nevertheless, there should be some kind of test, otherwise we will get lost.

And here is the question: can a successful person be unhappy? I think so. Let us see: we are inspired by success stories, but are we inspired by stories of happy people? Why are we not being told about them in the same way that we are being told about success stories? I am very critical, and I think that success stories are made up. People make up their biographies retrospectively, because when they give interviews to solid magazines like Forbes, they need a story. And the story goes like this: there was an ordinary girl, she didn't stand out from the rest, but she had talent. Thanks to her enormous efforts and a great education, she achieved incredible results: she created one, two, three companies, made her first million, completed many projects, and here she is in front of you.

There are many stories like that, but are they true? We tend to hide a lot of important things that happen in our lives and not talk about them. That is why I think that happiness and success are different things: you can be successful, but unhappy; you can be happy, but unsuccessful.

I have developed two criteria for happiness. One of them, so to speak, is personal and the other is more objective. Those criteria are feeling right and thinking right. (...)

For me, there are a few moments of happiness that are important: peace with oneself, a feeling of fullness and inner harmony; the feeling that every day is growing you, taking you forward. So for me, feeling right means feeling full, not empty. Even if I am tired or burnt out, it is not a feeling of emptiness. It feels right when I listen to myself, when I am honest with myself. Conversely, dissatisfaction, emptiness, fragmentation are indicators of unhappiness, even if I achieve certain results.

What I call right thinking is learning to fill each day and hour with an image that allows us to grow and build our biography; to live in an unfragmented way, to interact with people in a rich way, to feel that you are becoming deeper and more fulfilled. And then everything you do comes together into a single meaningful story. Right thinking means that "I am on the path", and this path opens up new dimensions, enriching me and the people around me.This is what is called a meaningful life. Whatever I do, whatever business I am in, right thinking helps me feel that I am moving in the right direction. It is movement, life - just not biological, but meaningful. (...)

You may think that I have too much pathos in my speech, but this is a personal experience. That experience tells us that we can create our day. It seems to us that every day is like a natural given: we get up in the morning, have a coffee, go for a run. (...) It's like a natural gift - almost biological, physiological. But this is a fundamental error in thinking, because you can create every day. Every day can be seen as a painting, a symphony or a mini-project. And then the day allows you to feel the self-creation: it's not just that I am drinking coffee, but I am drinking GOOD COFFEE; it's not just that I am drinking a glass of wine, but it's as if I am touching the place that has ripened the grape harvest, in a way, with the people of that place (...) And there is a whole world of communication. (...) I consciously take the day not as an accident or as a given, but as a creative act. Then I can create my week, my year. In the same way, I am the author of my biography, of my life path.

So feeling right and thinking right enriches us and opens the way to happiness. This path is, in principle, available to each one of us, but it is not self-evident. Happiness is a state of activity. However, this activity is not businesslike, but something completely different.

Source: https://rb.gy/16r15