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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