Sunday, 24 August 2025

Rereading The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell

 

                                       

Bertrand Russell’s work is a classic work one can read for its sound advice and practical utility for laymen as well as intellectuals. Its language is beautiful and congenial to develop broadmindedness. It is written two parts- The first part explores causes of unhappiness-Byronic unhappiness ( yearning for doing what one wants passionately), competition, boredom, fatigue, envy, the sense of sin, persecution mania  and fear of public opinion.

In spite of various causes of unhappiness, one can conquer happiness through zest, affection, the family, work, impersonal interests , effort and resignation. All these are dealt with in the second part of the book.

Byronic unhappiness is an enigmatic thing which can be removed only by following one’s innermost desires. One can go on writing if one finds it irresistible.

Competition is often seen as a sole virtue  by many people in these days. Success is only one element and is too costly if other elements are sacrificed. Success is not an end itself and if one doesn’t know what to do beyond success, it makes him a victim of boredom. Too much competition is not abiding and poisons work and leisure.

Boredom is the result of a frustrated desire for events and its opposite is excitement . all lives, great books contain  a certain portion of boredom and the young must be taught how to endure it. A happy life is a life of tranquillity.

Fatigue is due to many reasons and results from continuous worrying and indecision.  Our actions and successes and failures are not as important as we assume. Nervous fatigues are caused due to fears conscious or unconscious and developing more courage can remove fatigue.

Envy can be cured by mental discipline. It can be avoided by doing by doing away with comparison with more successful persons. In  order to find a way out , the civilized man must enlarge his heart  along with his mind and transcend his self and in this acquires the freedom of universe.

The sense of sin is born of traditional morality and rationality frees one from guilt psychology. The rational man avoids undesirable conditions or sees them as born of conditions .

Persecution mania is caused by lack of objective perspective of oneself, overestimating one’s merits, expecting others to take excessive interest  in  yourself , and others give enough thought to you to persecute you .  the remedy lies in avoiding self- deception and facing truth , accepting it and getting on with one’s life.

Fear of public opinion is another factor of misery which can be got over by meeting like-minded people and living according to our own deep impulses rather than pandering to other’s tastes and likings.    

Among the factors of happiness, zest for life  is like food for hunger. Genuine zest is natural to humans unless affected by  unfortunate conditions. Loss of zest in society  is caused by restrictions on liberty. Zest depends on excessive energy which in turn depends on working of psychological machine. These days zest is affected by mistaken attitude towards respectability.

Affection received causes the sense of security.  A capacity for genuine affection makes one free from prison of self. It is reciprocal . in adult life, lack of intimacy  destroys zest and creates introversion. One who has received less parental  affection  takes recourse to contemplation or philosophy or theology.

The basis of family is parental affection towards their own children. Friends love  us for our merits and lovers for charms but parents stand by us in distress. Parental happiness is lost I the clash between protection and tyranny. Motherhood should not  separate her from other  interests of life.

If work is moderate, it is always preferable to idleness. It makes holidays more delicious when they come. Constancy of purpose is given by work. All skilled work gives pleasure when there are creativity and room for continuous development. Constructive activity is more delightful than destruction,  A person who builds a project or an organisation and great artists and scientists derive a lot of satisfaction and respect of the significant others in  their lives. The people who have  a wholesome perspective towards life are happier than those who see life in fragmented way.

Impersonal interests are  also anther factor in happiness. It is good to have a true picture of the world and a sense of proportion regarding one’s life. even a little work toward a good end gives more happiness then a lot of work towards a bad end. Openness to the truthful picture of life , brevity and minuteness of human life and cultivation of variety of interest make one’s life more happy. The balance between effort and resignation is necessary and what is needed is integration between self and society.

In the very beginning Russell says that unhappiness is due to mistaken attitude towards the world , mistaken ethics and mistaken habits of life leading to destruction of zest for life on which happiness ultimately  depends . 

In brief, the true perspective about oneself, the world, proper ethics and good  habits of life offer happiness.    

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