Being Happy…

For clarity's sake, it should be said that this article and these reflections arose from reading one of the many Osho books - "Joy: The Happiness That Comes from Within".

Classical church teaching holds that a person on earth is subject to suffering. That is their cross as atonement for sins. If one behaves well in this world, one might inherit blessedness upon reaching paradise. All the saints of the church were sufferers - of deprivation, of hunger. True, they also possessed a richness of their own - clarity of mind. For the most part, saints have renounced all manner of attachment to any person; nor did they form families. True, this restriction does not apply to "ordinary" believers.

A happy believer is apparently one who understands and lives in accordance with the laws of God and the church, does not accumulate wealth, is modest in their desires, hardworking and helpful, honours father and mother, does not forget the tithe. The self and Ego are secondary. Any whim and desire, greed and ambition are reprehensible. One comes to know oneself through prayer.

 There is an alternative. Without waiting for the afterlife and the possible attainment of paradise, one can turn to self-discovery and simply - take and remain happy. Such a philosophy is carried by Buddhism, including Osho's teaching. In Buddhism one's desires, fears, joys, sorrows, and boredom are not denied but rather understood and recognised. The goal is to move from self to non-self, to merge with the Universe. This can be done - not quite by renouncing, but by viewing all material things as unimportant. By renouncing ambitions, the desire to win, to achieve something. The past belongs to the past, the future to the future. Everything that happens to you is here and now. Enjoy the moment!

I am not quite sure whether this applies to Buddhism as well, but Osho's teaching calls for the renunciation also of artificially constructed systems, structures, and principles. Among these structures is also the institution of the family, not to mention children.

S. Freud, studying thousands of people, observed minds with deviations and disturbances, and came to the conclusion that happiness is an invention: a person cannot be happy. We can only make life a little more comfortable, and that is all. We can only try to ensure there is less unhappiness. Freud was not a pessimist, but observing thousands of people, he came to understand that a person is so constituted as to contain within them a mechanism that produces an unhappy being. Freud regarded those similar to the Buddha as "accepting the wished-for as the actual".

Re-reading the essays of various psychologists on the subject (both local and foreign), one must conclude that they are more similar to Buddhism than to Christianity. The formula for happiness is simple - be here and now. Do not rummage in the past and do not become excessively carried away with modelling the future. Be responsible for your decisions, live your own life, realise your own goals. It may well be that the formula is simple, but realising it in life is decidedly complicated. Well, who doesn't enjoy fantasising about a beautiful future?!

There is also V. Zeland with his Transurfing theory, which is not in any special contradiction with Buddhism, but supplements the formula for happiness with such a term as living in an imagined environment, or reality. True, here too everything is not as simple as it might seem - it is not merely living in fantasies, but rather unshakeable belief in that fantasy. As if that fantasy were already real.

If you are chasing happiness, one thing is clear: you will never attain it. Happiness is always a side effect. It is not the result of striving. It happens when you are not even thinking about it.