Happiness
Wisdom
The wisdom of
the sages tells us that 99.9% of the human population has always
sought "happiness." The remaining segment of the population,
less than 1%, however, has always sought "wisdom." Thus humanity is forever
divided between those who seek happiness and those who seek wisdom. The
following excerpts from some of the works of philosophers and sages make
the distinction btween the seekers of happiness (the sheep) and the seekers
of wisdom (the tigers) quite clear.
Lao Tzu.
600 B.C. China. (From Tao Te Ching.)
The multitude are merry,
as though feasting on a day of sacrifice,
Or like ascending a tower
at springtime.
I alone am inert, showing
no sign of desires,
Like an infant that has not
yet smiled.
Wearied, indeed, I seem to
be without a home.
The multitude all possess
more than enough,
I alone seem to have lost
all.
Mine is indeed the mind of
an ignorant man,
Indiscriminate and dull!
Common folks are indeed brilliant;
I alone seem to be in the
dark.
Common folk see differences
and are clear-cut;
I alone make no distinctions.
I seem drifting as the sea;
Like the wind blowing about,
seemingly without destination.
The multitude all have a
purpose;
I alone seem to be stubborn
and rustic.
I alone differ from others,
And value drawing sustenance
from Mother.
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Gotama Buddha. 563-483
B.C. India. "Parable of the Burning House."
"Sariputra! Suppose, in a certain kingdom there is a great elder, old and experienced, of boundless wealth, possessing many fields, houses, and servants. His house is spacious and large, but it has only one door, and many people dwell in it. Its halls and chambers are decayed and old, its walls are crumbling down, the bases of its pillars rotten, and the beams and roof-trees toppling and dangerous. On every side, at the same moment, fire suddenly starts and the house is in conflagration. The children of the elder are in the dwelling. The elder on seeing this conflagration spring up on every side, is greatly startled and reflects thus: Though I am able to get safely out of the gate of this burning house, yet my boys in the burning house are pleasurably absorbed in amusements without apprehension, knowledge, surprise, or fear. Though the fire is pressing upon them and pain and suffering are instant, they do not mind or fear and have no impulse to escape.'
"Sariputra! This elder ponders thus:`I am strong in my body and arms. Shall I get them out of the house by means of a flower-vessel, or a bench, or a table?' again he ponders: `This house has only one gate, which moreover is narrow and small. My children are young, knowing nothing as yet, and attached to their place of play; perchance they will fall into the fire and be burnt. I must speak to them on this dreadful matter warning them that the house is burning and that they must come out instantly lest they are burnt and injured by the fire.' Having reflected thus, according to his thoughts, he calls to his children: `Come out quickly, all of you!'
"Though their father, in his pity, lures and admonishes with kind words, yet the children, joyfully absorbed in their play, are unwilling to believe him and have neither surprise nor fear, nor any mind to escape; moreover, they do not know what is the fire [he means], or what the house, and what he means by being lost, but only run hither and thither in play, no more than glancing at their father. Then the elder reflects thus: ‘this house is burning in a great conflagration. If I and my children do not get out at once, we shall certainly be burnt up by it. Let me now, by some expedient, cause my children to escape this disaster.' Knowing that to which each of his children is predisposed, and all the various attractive playthings and curiosities to which their natures will joyfully respond, the father tells them, saying:`Here are rare and precious things for your amusement--if you do not come and get them, you will be sorry for it afterwards. So may goat-carts, deer-carts, and bullock-carts are now outside the gate to play with. All of you come quickly out of this burning house, and I will give you whatever you want.' Thereupon the children, hearing of the attractive playthings mentioned by their father, and because they suit their wishes, everyone eagerly, each pushing the other, and racing one against another, comes rushing out of the burning house.
... Thus the Buddha sees how all living creatures are scorched by the fires of birth, age, disease, death, grief, and sorrow, and suffer all kinds of distress by reason of the five desires and the greed of gain; and how, by reason of the attachments of desire and its pursuits, they now endure much suffering. Absorbed in all these things, all living creatures rejoice and take their pleasure, while they neither apprehend, nor perceive, are neither alarmed, nor fear, and are without satiety, never seeking to escape, but, in the burning house of this world are running to and fro, and although they will meet with great suffering, count it not as cause for anxiety.
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Confucius. 551-479 B.C. China. (From The Analects).
8:9. Confucius said, "The common people may be made to follow it (the Way) but may not be made to understand it."
Confucius. 551-479 B.C. China. (From The Book of Meng Tzu).
7B:37. Confucius said: 'When someone passes by my gate and does not enter, the only time I don't regret it is when it is a 'conventional townsman.' These conventional townsmen are thieves of virtue.' What sort of people were these, that he called 'conventional townsmen'?" Mencius said, "They criticize the ardent, saying 'How can they be so grandiose, such that their words do not reflect their actions and actions do not reflect their words, and how can they justify themselves with 'the ancients did this, and the ancients did that.'" "And they criticize the prudent, saying, 'How can they be so aloof and cold? We are all born in this world, so we should be part of it. Being good here and now is sufficient.' They obsequiously flatter their contemporaries. These are the so-called 'conventional townsmen.'" Wan Chang said, "The whole town calls them 'acceptable men'--there is no place where they can go where they will not be regarded as 'acceptable men.' Why did Confucius call them 'thieves of virtue?'" Mencius answered: "If you want to blame them for something, there is nothing in particular that you can blame them for. If you want to correct them, there is nothing in particular that you can correct them for. They follow the current customs and consent to the vices of the age. They seem to abide in loyalty and honesty, and their actions seem pure. Everyone follows them and because people follow them, people become incapable of entering the Tao of Yao and Shun. Thus, they are called 'thieves of virtue.'" "Confucius said, 'I don't like simulacra. I don't like tares (grain weeds) because they can be confused with real grain. I don't like eloquence, because it can be confused with Justice. I don't like sharpness of tongue, because it might be confused with honesty. I don't like the music of Chang, because it might be confused with good music. I don't like purple, because it might be confused with vermilion and I don't like conventional townsmen, because they might be confused with the virtuous."
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Plato. 427-347 B.C. Greece. (From The Republic. Book VII)
AND now, I said, let me show
in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: Behold!
human beings living in an underground den (or cave), which has a mouth
open toward the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been
from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they
cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains
from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing
at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised
way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like
the screen which marionette-players have in front of them, over which they
show the puppets.
I see.
And do you see, I said, men passing
along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of
animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over
the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.
You have shown me a strange
image, and they are strange prisoners.
Like ourselves, I replied; and
they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the
fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?
True, he said; how could
they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their
heads?
And of the objects which are being
carried in like manner they would only see the shadows?
Yes, he said.
And if they were able to converse
with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was
actually before them?
Very true.
And suppose further that the prison
had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy
when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from
the passing shadow?
No question, he replied.
To them, I said, the truth would
be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.
That is certain.
And now look again, and see what
will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their
error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to
stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look toward the light, he
will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable
to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows;
and then conceive someone saying to him, that what he saw before was an
illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his
eye is turned toward more real existence, he has a clearer vision--what
will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing
to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them--will he not
be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw
are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?
Far truer.
And if he is compelled to look
straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make
him turn away to take refuge in the objects of vision which he can see,
and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which
are now being shown to him?
True, he said.
And suppose once more, that he
is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until
he is forced into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to
be pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his eyes will be
dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now
called realities.
Not all in a moment, he said.
He will require to grow accustomed
to the sight of the upper world. And first he will see the shadows best,
next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the
objects themselves; then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the
stars and the spangled heaven; and he will see the sky and the stars by
night better than the sun or the light of the sun by day?
Certainly.
Last of all he will be able to
see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but he will
see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate
him as he is.
Certainly.
He will then proceed to argue that
this is he who gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all
that is in the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things
which he and his fellows have been accustomed to behold?
Clearly, he said, he would
first see the sun and then reason about him.
And when he remembered his
old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow-prisoners, do
you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity
him?
Certainly, he would.
And if they were in the
habit of conferring honors among themselves on those who were quickest
to observe the passing shadows and to remark which of them went before,
and which followed after, and which were together; and who were therefore
best able to draw conclusions as to the future, do you think that he would
care for such honors and glories, or envy the possessors of them? Would
he not say with Homer,
"Better to be the poor servant
of a poor master," and to endure anything, rather than think as they
do and live after their manner?
Yes, he said, I think that
he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and
live in this miserable manner.
Imagine once more, I said, such
a one coming suddenly out of the sun to be replaced in his old situation;
would he not be certain to have his eyes full of darkness?
To be sure, he said.
And if there were a contest, and
he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never
moved out of the den, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes
had become steady (and the time which would be needed to acquire this new
habit of sight might be very considerable), would he not be ridiculous?
Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes;
and that it was better not even to think of ascending; and if anyone tried
to loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the
offender, and they would put him to death.
No question, he said.
This entire allegory, I
said, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument; the prison-house
is the world of light, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not
misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upward to be the ascent of
the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which,
at your desire, I have expressed--whether rightly or wrongly, the God knows.
But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge
the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort;
and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things
beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible
world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual;
and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally either
in public or private life must have his eye fixed.
I agree, he said,
as far as I am able to understand you.
Moreover, I said, you must
not wonder that those who attain to this beatific vision are unwilling
to descend to human affairs; for their souls are ever hastening into the
upper world where they desire to dwell; which desire of theirs is very
natural, if our allegory may be trusted.
Yes, very natural.
And is there anything surprising
in one who passes from divine contemplations to the evil state of man,
misbehaving himself in a ridiculous manner; if, while his eyes are blinking
and before he has become accustomed to the surrounding darkness, he is
compelled to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images
or the shadows of images of justice, and is endeavoring to meet the conceptions
of those who have never yet seen absolute justice?
Anything but surprising,
he replied.
Anyone who has common-sense will
remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise
from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into
the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily
eye; and he who remembers this when he sees anyone whose vision is perplexed
and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that
soul of man has come out of the brighter life, and is unable to see because
unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is
dazzled by excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition
and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he have a mind to
laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be
more reason in this than in the laugh which greets
him who returns from above out of the light into the den.
That, he said, is
a very just distinction.
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Aristotle. 384-322
B.C. Greece.
(From The Nichomachean Ethics, Book I).
Let us resume our inquiry and state, in view of the fact that all knowledge and every pursuit aims at some good, what it is that we say political science aims at and what is the highest of all goods achievable by action. Verbally there is very general agreement; for both the general run of men and people of superior refinement say that it is happiness, and identify living well and doing well with being happy; but with regard to what happiness is they differ, and the many do not give the same account as the wise. For the former think it is some plain and obvious thing, like pleasure, wealth, or honor; they differ, however, from one another- and often even the same man identifies it with different things, with health when he is ill, with wealth when he is poor; but, conscious of their ignorance, they admire those who proclaim some great ideal that is above their comprehension. Now some thought that apart from these many goods there is another which is self-subsistent and causes the goodness of all these as well. To examine all the opinions that have been held were perhaps somewhat fruitless; enough to examine those that are most prevalent or that seem to be arguable.
Let us not fail to notice, however, that there is a difference between arguments from and those to the first principles. For Plato, too, was right in raising this question and asking, as he used to do, 'are we on the way from or to the first principles?' There is a difference, as there is in a race-course between the course from the judges to the turning-point and the way back. For, while we must begin with what is known, things are objects of knowledge in two senses--some to us, some without qualification. Presumably, then, we must begin with things known to us. Hence any one who is to listen intelligently to lectures about what is noble and just, and generally, about the subjects of political science must have been brought up in good habits. For the fact is the starting-point, and if this is sufficiently plain to him, he will not at the start need the reason as well; and the man who has been well brought up has or can easily get starting points. And as for him who neither has nor can get them, let him hear the words of Hesiod:
Far
best is he who knows all things himself;
Good, he that hearkens when men counsel right;
But he who neither knows, nor lays to heart
Another's wisdom, is a useless wight.
Let us,
however, resume our discussion from the point at which we digressed. To
judge from the lives that men lead, most men, and men of the most vulgar
type, seem (not without some ground) to identify the good, or happiness,
with pleasure; which is the reason why they love the life of enjoyment.
For there are, we may say, three prominent types of life- that just mentioned,
the political, and thirdly the contemplative life. Now the mass of mankind
are evidently quite slavish in their tastes, preferring a life suitable
to beasts, but they get some ground for their view from the fact that many
of those in high places share the tastes of Sardanapallus. A consideration
of the prominent types of life shows that people of superior refinement
and of active disposition identify happiness with honor; for this is, roughly
speaking, the end of the political life. But it seems too superficial to
be what we are looking for, since it is thought to depend on those who
bestow honor rather than on him who receives it, but the good we divine
to be something proper to a man and not easily taken from him. Further,
men seem to pursue honor in order that they may be assured of their goodness;
at least it is by men of practical wisdom that they seek to be honored,
and among those who know them, and on the ground of their virtue; clearly,
then, according to them, at any rate, virtue is better. And perhaps one
might even suppose this to be, rather than honor, the end of the political
life. But even this appears somewhat incomplete; for possession of virtue
seems actually compatible with being asleep, or with lifelong inactivity,
and, further, with the greatest sufferings and misfortunes; but a man who
was living so no one would call happy, unless he were maintaining a thesis
at all costs. But enough of this; for the subject has been sufficiently
treated even in the current discussions. Third comes the contemplative
life, which we shall consider later.
The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else. And so one might rather take the aforenamed objects to be ends; for they are loved for themselves. But it is evident that not even these are ends; yet many arguments have been thrown away in support of them. Let us leave this subject, then.
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Meng Tzu. 390-305 B.C. China. (From The Book of Meng Tzu).
7A:5 Mencius said: "Acting without being clear, practicing without close observation: doing this to the end of their lives without ever understanding their own course. This is the way most people are."
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Manu. 100 A.D. India. (From Manu's Law, Chapter II).
1. Learn that sacred
law which is followed by men learned (in the Veda) and assented to in their
hearts by the virtuous, who are ever exempt from hatred and inordinate
affection.
2. To act solely from
a desire for rewards is not laudable, yet an exemption from that desire
is not (to be found) in this (world): for on (that) desire is grounded
the study of the Veda and the performance of the actions, prescribed by
the Veda.
3. The desire (for
rewards), indeed, has its root in the conception that an act can yield
them, and in consequence of (that) conception sacrifices are performed;
vows and the laws prescribing restraints are all stated to be kept through
the idea that they will bear fruit.
4. Not a single act
here (in this world) appears ever to be done by a man free from desire;
for whatever (man) does, it is (the result of) the impulse of desire.
5. He who persists
in discharging these (prescribed duties) in the right manner, reaches the
deathless state and even in this (life) obtains (the fulfillment of) all
the desires that he may have conceived.
6. The whole Veda
is the (first) source of the sacred law, next the tradition and the virtuous
conduct of those who know the (Veda further), also the customs of holy
men, and (finally) self-satisfaction.
7. Whatever law has
been ordained for any (person) by Manu, that has been fully declared in
the Veda: for that (sage was) omniscient.
8. But a learned man
after fully scrutinizing all this with the eye of knowledge, should, in
accordance with the authority of the vedic texts, be intent on (the performance
of) his duties.
9. For that man who
obeys the law prescribed in the vedic texts and in the sacred tradition,
gains fame in this (world) and after death unsurpassable bliss.
10. But by Sruti (that
which was heard by the sages) is meant the Veda, and by Smriti (tradition)
the Institutes of the sacred law: those two must not be called into question
in any matter, since from those two the sacred law shone forth.
11. Every twice-born
man, who, relying on the Institutes of dialectics, treats with contempt
those two sources (of the law), must be cast out by the virtuous, as a
disbeliever and a scorner of the Veda.
12. The Veda, the
sacred tradition, the customs of virtuous men, and one's own pleasure,
they declare to be visibly the fourfold means of defining the sacred law.
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Ibn Tufayl.
d. 1185 A.D. Europe. (From, Hayy Ibn
Yaqzan).
Hayy
Ibn Yaqzan began to teach this group and explain some of the profound wisdom
to them. But the moment he rose the slightest bit above the literal or
began to portray things against which they were prejudiced, they
recoiled in horror from his ideas and closed their minds. Out of courtesy
to the stranger and in deference to their friend Absal, they made a show
of being pleased with Hayy, but in their hearts they resented him. Hayy
found them delightful and continued his exposition of the truth, exoteric
and esoteric, night and day. But the more he taught, the more repugnance
they felt, despite the fact that these were men who loved the good and
sincerely yearned for the Truth. Their inborn infirmity simply
would not allow them to seek Him as Hayy did, to grasp the true essence
of His being and see Him in His own terms. They wanted to know him
in some human way. In the end Hayy despaired of helping them and gave up
his hopes that they would accept his teaching.
Then class by class he studied mankind. He saw "every faction delighted with its own." They made their passions their god, and desire the object of their worship. They destroyed each other to collect the trash of this world, "distracted by greed until they went down to their graves." Preaching is no help, fine words have no effect on them. Arguing only makes them more pigheaded. Wisdom they have no means of reaching; they were allotted no share of it. They are engulfed in ignorance. Their hearts are corroded by their possessions. God has sealed their hearts and shrouded their eyes and ears. Theirs will be an awesome punishment.
When he saw that the torture pavilion already encircled them and the shadows of the veil already enshrouded them, when he saw that all but a very few of them adhered to their religion only for the sake of this world and "flung away works, no matter how light and easy, sold them for a bad price," distracted from the thought of God by business, heedless of the Day when hearts and eyes will be turned inwards, Hayy saw clearly and definitely that to appeal to them publicly and openly was impossible. Any attempt to impose higher task on them was bound to fail. The sole benefit most people could derive from religion was for this world, in that it helped them lead decent lives without others encroaching on what belonged to them. Hayy now knew that only a very few win the true happiness of the man who "desires the world to come, strives for it and is faithful." but "for the insolent who prefer this life Hell will be their refuge!"
What weariness is heavier, what misery more overburdening than recounting all you do from the time you get up to the time you go to bed without finding a single action that did not amount to seeking one of these vile, sensory aims: money making, pleasure seeking, satisfying some lust, venting rage, saving face, performing religious rites for the sake of honor, or just to save your neck! All these are only "cloud upon cloud over a deep sea." "Not one among you will descend there--this from your Lord, decreed and sealed."
Hayy now
understood the human condition. He saw that most men are no better than
unreasoning animals, and realized that all wisdom and guidance, all that
could possibly help them was contained already in the words of the prophets
and the religious traditions. None of this could be different. There was
nothing to be added. There is a man for every task and everyone belongs
to the life for which he was created. "This was God's way with those who
came before, and never will you find a change in the ways of God."
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George Berkeley. 1685-1753. Europe.
Philosophy
being nothing else but the study of wisdom and truth, it may with reason
be expected that those who have spent most time and pains in it should
enjoy a greater calm and serenity of mind, a greater clearness and evidence
of knowledge, and be less disturbed with doubts and difficulties than other
men. Yet so it is, we see the illiterate bulk of mankind that walk the
high-road of plain common sense, and are governed by the dictates of nature,
for the most part easy and undisturbed. To them nothing that is familiar
appears unaccountable or difficult to comprehend. They complain not of
any want of evidence in their senses, and are out of all danger of becoming
Sceptics.
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Bertrand Russell. 1872-1970. Europe. (From, "Proposed Roads to Freedom ").
The great
majority of men and women, in ordinary times, pass through life without
ever contemplating or criticizing, as a whole, either their own conditions
or those of the world at large. They find themselves born into a certain
place in society, and they accept what each day brings forth, without any
effort of thought beyond what the immediate present requires. Almost as
instinctively as the beasts of the field, they seek the satisfaction of
the needs of the moment, without much forethought, and without considering
that by sufficient effort the whole conditions of their lives could be
changed. A certain percentage, guided by personal ambition, make the effort
of thought and will which is necessary to place themselves among the more
fortunate members of the community; but very few among these are seriously
concerned to secure for all the advantages which they seek for themselves.
It is only a few rare and exceptional men who have that kind of love toward
mankind at large that makes them unable to endure patiently the general
mass of evil and suffering, regardless of any relation it may have to their
own lives. These few, driven by sympathetic pain, will seek, first in thought
and then in action, for some way of escape, some new system of society
by which life may become richer, more full of joy and less full of preventable
evils than it is at present. But in the past such men have, as a rule,
failed to interest the very victims of the injustices which they wished
to remedy. The more unfortunate sections of the population have been ignorant,
apathetic from excess of toil and weariness, timorous through the imminent
danger of immediate punishment by the holders of power, and morally unreliable
owing to the loss of self-respect resulting from their degradation.
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