One of the questions on Alpha Course is ‘what makes you happy?’ It is a very important question and one that we should ponder. Happiness, since the 19th century, has been seen as a primary good in itself. Happiness and the pursuit of happiness appears in the US constitution. It is fundamental to the modern concept of the good life.
This is not the first time I have blogged about private experiences but I think that this topic is too important to avoid. What makes me happy? The alternative is unhappiness and in my life I have been unhappy and know what that feels like. Its not good and I would say that it is not the intended human condition. In fact the feelings associated with unhappiness are intended to get you out of the situation that is making you unhappy. In contrast the feelings associated with happiness make you want to wallow in it, delight in it and be the proverbial pig in it. When I am happy I feel smooth, quick and clever. I am more myself (EDIT: My wife would like me to add that I am also much easier to live with!)
So what makes me happy. Lets look at literature for an example. I think the happiest people in literature are the Hobbits. A profound creation by JRR Tolkien. The Hobbits contrast with the Ratlings from Warhammer 40K in that they do not live hedonistic promiscuous lives but contented lives that focus on ‘growing food and eating it’, they keep the law because its the law and as Thorin says at the end of The Hobbit if more people loved cheer than horded gold the world would be a merrier place. This is not to say that the Hobbits are merely drunken, gluttons obsessed with food they are also strong and resilient.
My take away from this is that to be happy the individual should enjoy their work and the benefits of their work. The Hobbits liked the view of a well cultivated field not just, I suspect, for the eating later on but out of an appreciation of the hard work that had gone into taking a field, harrowing it, seeding it, cultivating, weeding and watering it until that barren land becomes fertile. And that is what makes me happy, I love hard work and a good solid result. I remember making my wife’s wedding ring as part of a workshop on the Valentines day before our wedding. It took all day and transformed scrap gold into a shiny new ring by my effort (and the jewellers skill).
So I admit it, what makes me happy is being like a Hobbit. I want to be strong enough to maintain my little hill of beans and strong enough to keep it. That involves hard work and determination in everything I do. From chopping wood for the fire, battling the brambles and ivy that threatens to take over my garden to working hard during the day and coming back to a meal with my family.
Historytalker 