HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT HAPPINESS REALLY IS?

By Xenia Loannou (Guest Writer)

There are many books written on happiness describing it as a “state of mind”. Happiness exists in the present and cannot be reserved for the future.

Have you ever heard people saying, or have you ever caught yourself saying “I will be happy once, this is done” or “I will be happy when I stop working in this job” .... This leads to anxiety of the future and takes away happiness in the present.

Happiness is not a goal, it is a state.

I like the definition of happiness as a “state of mind existing in the now”. The definition is useful for the individual, (and most self-help books and information is targeted towards the individual).
However, the “state of mind” definition does not address the fact that we, as a human race are connected to each other through a collective consciousness.

When one person is suffering it is difficult for individuals to be totally happy in the now, especially if our behaviours have contributed to that suffering even at an unconscious level. If we can see it, then we are privy to it even if we cannot see how at a conscious level.

We can see it because we are more awakened on a conscious level and not as desensitised as we were throughout our history.

The modern world is facing a crisis level. Our economy is a disaster and threatening our food chains, habitat destruction is causing extinction of animal species on a massive scale. Pollution and wars are out of control.

You cannot solve a problem at the same consciousness that has created it and our only hope is a raise in human consciousness and awareness.

Despite all the great self help information (aimed at the individual) in today’s market, the levels of human clinical depression is increasing and especially skyrocketing in women and children in the last quarter of the last century.

There may be many reasons for the increase, but at least some of it may be associated with learned helplessness with respect to the world’s current problems.

We are now aware enough to see it but we are helpless to do anything about it.

Learned helplessness is the condition of a human or animal that has learned to behave helplessly, failing to respond even though there are opportunities for it to help itself by avoiding unpleasant circumstances or by gaining positive rewards.

The American psychologist Martin Seligman's foundational experiments and theory of learned helplessness began at the University of Pennsylvania in 1967, as an extension of his interest in depression. Seligman and colleagues discovered that dogs repeatedly hurt by an adverse stimulus which they cannot escape eventually stopped trying to avoid the pain and behaved as if it they were utterly helpless to change the situation.

Finally, when opportunities to escape were presented, the learned helplessness prevented any further action. Once helplessness is learned, the only coping mechanism the animal or person uses is apathy and will put up with the discomfort, not expending energy getting worked up about the adverse stimulus.

Part of the job of school teachers, the media and environmental educators is to raise an alarm to problems the world is facing currently. This information is dispensed (sometimes inadvertently) as destructive, painting a picture of doom and gloom and absolute “helplessness” to an already conditioned (and sometimes emotionally damaged public).

It is my own view point that this could be a contributing factor to causing the depression epidemic we are seeing currently.

In 1995 David Sobel, director of the teacher certification program at Antioch New England Graduate School in New Hampshire (1) identified and published that eight and nine year‑olds already haunted with too many concerns, develop a fear of ecological problems, a term he coined “Ecophobia” when we lay the weight of the world's environmental problems onto them.

Similarly Albert Zeyer of the University of Zurich demonstrated that high school students were fully aware of our looming environmental crises, yet felt powerless to change things (2) "They suffered what Zeyer described as “latent environmental depression" as a result of decades of "gloom and doom" messages in a generation of informed but disillusioned and depressed youth. As one teenager in the study put it: "We don't have a chance."

So why are we more depressed now than ever before? Because we are “awakening”, women and younger people are more conscious and awakened now than ever before, but are not yet able to take action towards the world’s problems.

It is delusional to think that the world’s problems did not exist in the last century and that people were happier and smarter then, they were just more unconscious and desensitised to the suffering of others.

In 1945 two atomic bombs were dropped on the cites of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the united state of America killing a total of more than 200,000 people, although this was the beginning of human awakening, it was total unconsciousness and desensitisation to human suffering that led to the behaviour that caused the bombings.

Under the destructive conditioned layers, human beings are basically good, capable of ethical behaviour and empathy towards others, they no longer have an interest in causing more suffering.

We are now, for the first time in human history, beginning to get rid of some of our conditioning that is no longer working for us and in doing so, our help flow (the desire to help others) is increasing. We are designed to create value and serve as many people as we can. In an awakened state, it becomes ironic to “see” the problem, (not be desensitised to it) and yet be helpless to solve it.

First of all, let’s have a look at how we are creating some of the problems we think we are helpless to solve? In the pursuit of happiness, research suggests that we are seeking meaningful relationships with family and friends, health and well-being, work that fulfils our passions and an enjoyable life through doing what we want to do.

In a globalised world, the pursuit of individual happiness and fulfilment may have negative repercussions on people, animals or environments somewhere else. If we care about people, animals and the environment and hurt them at the same time, then the resulting dichotomy will lead to unsustained happiness and sometimes depression (although some short term gratification may be gained).

People in a very low, non-awakened state will be apathetic and therefore desensitised to global issues and will therefore remain in a state of pseudo-happiness seeking more and more immediate gratification until they rise to a higher state where they are able to care and change.

Consider something that brings you pleasure, such as eating chocolate. It’s a momentary sensory delight familiar to many of us. However, if the chocolate you are eating contains palm oil (also labelled as vegetable oil) which comes from Indonesian plantations grown commercially by clearing rainforests, then you are contributing to the rapid extinction of orangutans. If you at the same time care about endangered species, then you cannot gain happiness by supporting industries that are contributing to their extinction and expect to be authentically happy. On some level you know you are doing this, and you are causing a dichotomy which leads to unsustained happiness in the long run.

We are awakening which means that we are beginning to be driven less by our conditioned minds and more by our higher purpose. Our actions need to be in line with this awakening, otherwise the consequence will be a wake-up call to set us on the right track, whether it be clinical depression on an epidemic level or other psychosomatic symptoms, the message is to take action. Human beings are not here to be happy, we are here to awaken and the non happiness we are creating is a wake up call that we are not on the right track – yet.

So how do we become happy? By observing our behaviour and actions. Are your behaviours right now driven by your unconscious or ego’s need for pleasure at any expense or are they in line with your higher purpose? Take control of your life and you are well on your way to solving the larger world problems and becoming a much happier and wealthier person.