The pursuit of happiness

I finally finished reading "The Geography of Bliss" earlier today. I must say that I have a love-hate relationship with this book. There are parts where I loved the author's words, parts where I hated them and parts where I loved to hate what he had to say.

In a nutshell, the author hitherto known as the 'Sully Scribe' and decidedly proud to claim himself to be eternally depressed/unhappy, now intends to explore the 7 continents , traverse distant seas and scale peaks to locate the places in the world where people are happiest in general. The romantic expedition has all the trappings of adventures accompanied by epiphanies and revelations one dreams to realise at some point in one's otherwise dreary life. Strangely, as I bore deeper and deeper into this book, I had to acknowledge a growing sense of resentment...no, restlessness is the right word. SS probably tried to fight this same feeling before deciding to quell it by setting off on his journey. As much as I'd love to follow his lead, I don't have an inexhaustible source of wealth, the amount of vacation time or the comforting cheer from family (wonder how excited his wife was about this idea) to go country-hopping for months. The result is aggravated restlessness which needed to be addressed swiftly before my flaky witless alter-ego took over and executed some crazy decisions ("Mr.Manager?I QUIT!That's right.I'm off to HappyLand!")

The Sully Scribe heads to Holland which houses a 'Happiness Institute' (dedicated to the study of happiness) in ironically bleak buildings. Clutching a list of countries which lead the world in claiming to have happy residents, SS visits over 12 countries and spends time talking to their citizens from all walks of life and strata in society. The effort is well-appreciated and just when you near the end of every chapter anticipating a profound truth from that culture, the author wraps it up with a succint 360-degree perspective about what makes that country tick(or not tick) without actually describing how that relates to his quest. The observations he makes about people in a country far outnumber the reasons he quotes to explain why his quest does not end there. Nor does he completely clarify another interesting question. What would he do once he locates Utopia?Relocate with his family?Return to America and spread the good word?

After reading several accounts of his travels in Qatar,Thailand,Iceland and other lands, it seems highly unlikely that our dear SS would ever feel completely at peace in any one place. The book progressively gave me the feeling that he was making the same mistake millions of people do the world over (and have been doing for centuries)-striving for active change to ensure happiness. People change homes,change jobs,change partners,change lifestyles and even change themselves all the while hoping that there has to be something better out there that they're missing out on. Change itself is not a bad thing but change in pursuit of a better good needs to be coupled with good reasoning. What is this better good that we try to strive for? A new home? More luxuries?A better relationship?Can that change really ensure the longevity of that better good?

After sailing the seven seas, our dejected SS returns home and talks to several people from his home city of Miami who decided to move to Asheville NC. "Is this home?", he asked them after seeing how happy they were with the move. "It is for now.."

The book does a great job of describing people and their way of life. Does the author find what he's looking for? Probably not. When he returns to America, you expect him to sit back and sigh, "Home is where the heart is". I doubt he has decided to end his quest in Miami or anywhere in America.

Hinduism does a noble job of addressing this issue to a considerable extent. The things which have the potential to make us happy (sukham) or unhappy (dukkham) are not ultimately powerful enough to sustain. These are fleeting changes in the expanse of a lifetime and they are more aptly defined as pleasures and displeasures. Pleasure can be a source of endless joy for some people and pleasure can be disturbing for many depending on that source. Regardless, pleasure is not happiness-what we call bliss(anandam).

When we make changes to our lives, we tend to focus on sukham more than anandam-immediate pleasure over lasting bliss. This might be a subconscious decision which we happen to realise much later. If we are to attain bliss (and ofcourse that isn't easy), we need to awaken to the realisation that one goal cannot exist in the presence of another. Bliss doesnt come through a steady source of pleasure.Nor can the quest for pleasure deliver something blissful. We aren't perfect beings and so we make our choices and remain 'content'.

The Vedas also decry the purpose of desire. Desire develops an attraction which lends itself to a fixation and eventually an obsession. This obsession plagues our mind, and rids us of our intellect. What hope do we have left after the complete loss of our senses? While this makes perfect sense, how does one tackle the pursuit of happiness? The scriptures encourage us to seek bliss (ananda not sukha) and unite with Brahman, the universal spirit. How then does one deal with the desire to attain bliss? We could heed to the words of the Gita and perform our duties with no expectation of their fruits whatsoever. Does that still justify the presence of this desire anyway? I have no further answers and if you do, please tell me.

Another reason why this book got me restless is because I have always struggled to come up with my own definition of 'happiness'. I now understand the difference between pleasure and bliss and while I certainly haven't uncovered the secret to a blissful existence (for me), I am unable to define what could even come close.

One time in 7th grade, we were asked to use a pin-up chart and come up with answers to the question, "What makes you happy?". Today I can tell you what makes me joyful, feel content, feel at ease,feel pleased and even feel pleasured. When I know my family is safe, I am content.When I know people love and care for me, I am comforted. When I see or do an act of kindness, I feel good or rewarded. But I still don't know what makes me happy.

Do you?