They say, Happiness is a very Intrinsic Factor that comes from within. Is It ?

Then everyone of us would have been happy living as isolated islands in the jungle with no need for food, shelter, clothing and social relationships, which are so very extrinsic things. Man wouldn't have built any civilization nor society.

In jobs and careers, one would have been happy just being an office clerk and wouldn't have strived to become a Departmental Head. Many lovers in this world wouldn't have resisted their parents to marry the man / woman of their choice and would have been just as happy if any man / woman became their husband / wife.

Or if you can think of extremes : Why marry at all ? Why need that very 'extrinsic' partner to fulfill your intrinsic needs of love and belongingness...Stay Single.

All parents would have been glad if their children just barely passed their class exams and wouldn't have motivated them to be achievers in sports, music and academics. Recognition and Rewards for our success are all extrinsic things that motivate us to surge ahead in life. If an office employee's efforts are not rewarded with due recognition, would he have still continued to enjoy working at the one post he joined in the beginning of his career and stagnate at that post for years together without any promotion ?

I am sure for any employee, a respectable, high position at the office would also make his old parents feel proud and happy because they are loving their son's achievements. But would they have been this happy if he was unemployed and jobless ? I am afraid, not. So jobs and careers are also very extrinsic things which make us realise our worth and potential.

We keep telling ourselves about happiness being intrinsic to gain some consolation that whatever be the situation that befalls us, we'll try to adjust, accept, accommodate and be happy with all that we've got in life. It holds more true when we have unfulfilled needs, desires and ambitions, and we can't make our dreams to realities, such modes of self-consolation help us feel better and of course, comparing ourselves with the lesser privileged and feeling how fortunate we are...

But in reality, we always try to want and achieve more and more to fulfill our needs and harness our potentials. We are not self-satiated. We are always seeking, searching with our restless soul...As they say, the sky is the limit. Or may be, the limitless, boundless universe which reflects the very fact of existence, that there are no limits, no boundaries, when it comes to our desires in life.

As Ghalib portrayed his thoughts so well :

Hazaaron khwahishain 'eisee, ke har khwahish pe dam nikle
Bahut nikle mere armaan, lekin phir bhee kam nikle...

In a way, it is good because it makes us grow and seek new opportunities. Like the saying goes : a rolling stone gathers no moss. Life is a process of ceaseless evolution...every moment, any trivial / impt. event, makes a mark on us and it ushers in a new change of feeling, thinking and doing...

The famous humanitarian Hollywood actress Ashley Judd says :

"I can't think of anything I want and need that I don't already have, but at the same time, I'm not sated."

I agree with her because being sated / satiated means staying stagnated. There is nothing to look forward to...A kind of self-contentment where we are happy with what we are and we don't want to grow any further...There is no urge to surge ahead.

But life is not about stopping to stagnate. It is about evolving and discovering and changing and emulating new things...It is like the unending quest for knowledge and the thirst to learn new concepts. The thirst / quest may be intrinsic but the source of knowledge could be intrinsic like the road to self-realization / self-actualization or extrinsic - there is a plethora of un-delved facts in the world - the universe being one whole knowledge-bank and we the tiny children in our own little worlds of home and class-learning, trying to grasp as much as we can in this short life of ours...and feeling amazed, in awe, in wonder, as and when we learn new concepts, and apply new principles to our day to day living...

And we realize that life is too short. There is so much to learn, imbibe, and absorb from this world. And even if we become diligent life-learners, learning a new concept everyday, we would still be covering just a fraction of the world-wide knowledge base. One life is just too short for a lifetime of learning...

Before you get me wrong, I am not saying that the more wealthy and rich a person is, the more happy and contented he would be…Money cannot buy you love nor guarantee you happiness. There are other extrinsic factors like social relationships, and intrinsic factors like a healthy mind and body, which might contribute to a person feeling well and happy.

But I can certainly say, that there are more chances of a well-fed, well-educated, well-settled, well-resourced person to feel 'happy' in life than an under-nourished, uneducated, unemployed person living his life in abject poverty and deprivation.

As for Great Exceptions like Gautama Buddha who renounced their worldly pleasures and familial attachments in search of the ultimate truth...in such cases too, they took extreme steps because they were not self-contented with what they had in life and their restlessness drove them to life's austerities and deep penance till they achieved their "enlightenment" - so for them, the source of pleasure was not materialistic but rather spiritual and philosophical...and they sought pleasure in seeking knowledge and imparting their tenets of truth to others....thus in doing good for their disciples, leading them from darkness to light, spreading happiness amongst dejected souls, all these noble actions became a source of their happiness.  

May 26, 2007

Top | Ramblings