Happiness - An Eternal Emotion

In a recent article in NYT, Simon Critchley wrote about happiness and how it is God-like (http://bit.ly/19qDAS).

What I found to be profound was his citation of Ludwig Wittgenstein - "Tractatus" that "the eternal life is given to those who live in the present."

Reason I can identify with that sentence was my personal subscription to Zen philosophy. The main thesis being "be in the present". Whatever you are doing right now is the most important thing. Whoever you are with is the most important person. And the best time to do anything is now.

Stated simply, and in non Zen-language, is to be totally present in the here and now. You cannot be doing something but with your mind thinking about what happened last night as you cannot go back and change things. Likewise focusing on what to do next is fruitless as you cannot do anything right now.

For instance, when spending time with your child, you should not be thinking about the meeting you had nor should you be thinking about the work that needs to get done later.

John Wooden says it this way; you need to give your 100 percent during training as you are not able to give just 60 percent and make it up tomorrow by giving 140 percent. At any point in time, you can only give up to 100 percent.

Therefore, I find that to do something and not regret about it later, as " time is nothing but the experience of the present through which one passes without hurry, but without regret". (Cited from the NYT article).

And to have an experience without regret is to be present, do it to the best of your ability (giving your 100 percent), and focus your mind on it totally (in other words, to not be distracted).

Can you imagine a air-traffic controller who is not being present, giving only 60 percent of her ability, and getting distracted by her date with her dream guy after work? What if, because of that, she slipped and a plane crashed as a result?

That would be disastrous! Imagine she saying, well, tomorrow I'll give my 140 percent? If she has any conscience, how do you think she can live with the fact that lives were lost because she was not being present?

Ridiculous as you may say. But is it really?

Finally I believe it comes back to three fundamental principles. One, the concept of being present. We must not be held hostage by our past nor worry unduly about our future when engaged in any task. We can't change history and we can't do anything about the future until we get there. That doesn't mean you should live life without a care in the world. You should and it must be done at an allocated time. Not when you are doing something else.

Two, the idea of being true to yourself. People cannot see your intention but only your behavior. And intentions are clearly aligned to your values. And if you are a person of integrity, you will be doing whatever you are doing with the best of intentions. As we can fake it. But then your behaviors would not be consistent. And eventually it will show.

Three, the thing about your ability. If you are a 6 in performing a task, then you must give a 6 each time. Clients don't pay you to be a 4 when you are a 6. And of course, because you are a 6, you cannot be expected to be paid like a 9. Which means you should take the effort to improve but this is outside the scope of this discussion.

Hence, if we are present, with good intentions, and give your best everytime; of course with consistency, soon people will come to recognize that. And it will certainly lead to the eternal emotion that we all want; and that's happiness.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)