The Trek from Meaning to Happiness

I do not know what most people mean when they use the word happy.  I am happy that my dog is learning to go into a down/stay when we are visiting new places but can a person have a happy year or a happy life?  What would that mean?  You can have a year that is filled with joy, but I would suggest that is more an issue of learning to notice the joy around you than a description of exterior accomplishment.  Marriages can be fulfilling and perhaps that is what we mean by having a happy one.  I understand the idea of the "happy home" but these are both expressions of having put work into relationships and sometimes foregoing short-term happiness for long-term meaning.

I suspect that either we do not know what we want when we speak of a desire to be "happy." Either that or we do have an idea and there is a conflict between the hedonism of our desire and the altruism of what we think we ought to desire.  Unwilling to address the conflict, we speak and think in the terms of "happiness," as something the universe will grant it to us because we are good or deserve it.  The universe, however, cares not a whit about your next breath, let alone your happiness in doing so.  Meaning, however, is something we can pursue, if we are willing to sacrifice in service of others.

Living in service of a meaning, however, will entail opportunity costs.  There will be things you can not do,

You keep on using that word.

vacations you cannot take, relationships you cannot pursue, things you cannot buy, and time spent in mundane tedium that makes the dynamic possible, that must be surrendered in service to the meaning you embrace.  Insofar as your internal state of happiness, it matters little the content of the meaning you serve.  Though if you are going to dedicate yourself to something or someones, I would recommend taking a dispassionate look at the situation.  Will you be content to die knowing you poured yourself into this meaning?  If so, I suspect you will find a path that at least will raise the possibility of happiness.

The mainstream is starting to take notice of this conflict in popular culture.  In the Alantic we read this description of what researchers found when they began to ask what people mean by happiness,

"Happiness without meaning characterizes a relatively shallow, self-absorbed or even selfish life, in which things go well, needs and desire are easily satisfied, and difficult or taxing entanglements are avoided," the authors of the study wrote. "If anything, pure happiness is linked to not helping others in need.” While being happy is about feeling good, meaning is derived from contributing to others or to society in a bigger way. As Roy Baumeister, one of the researchers, told me, "Partly what we do as human beings is to take care of others and contribute to others. This makes life meaningful but it does not necessarily make us happy.”

My take is that we evolved a tribal species yet Western culture in particular has developed in a highly individualistic manner.  Are tribe is the people around us on an everyday basis. People with whom we identify and whom we could find ourselves serving with little regard for the opportunity cost.  For some people this would be their family or co-workers, others will look to a cause like animal protection, battered women or gay rights, others will find it in a hobby like beekeeping or hunting groups like Ducks Unlimited.  The name of your tribe(s) is unimportant, only that it be worthy of the meaning you give it and the service you offer.

In service we find significance and in significance we find a happy life.

Meaning can result in happiness if you measure the giving over a long period of time.  Serving others, serving a tribe, building something whether it be a community, an organization, a farm, or a monument can result in plenty of "unhappy" days, months, or even years but the happiness arises from having done something you find worthwhile, not necessarily in the day to day doing itself which might be arduous.  Time is the factor we tend to neglect.  Are you chasing after the ever changing day to day happiness "hit" or are you living a life that, over time, will grant the deeper, heavier, sustaining happiness of having done something.worthwhile.

The Pups make a Catch

OK, so I helped them out a little.

Religious Shift to Orthopraxy

Damian Thompson over at the Telegraph posits an interesting, if speculative, theory, the world's religions are de-emphasizing orthodoxy (right belief) for a renewed focus on orthopraxy (right behavior).  This is neither good nor bad, just a change of discussion.  Orthopraxy is just as apt for abuse as orthodoxy, and perhaps more so since it is easier to hide your divergent beliefs than aberrations of behavior. It would also seem to suggest a confession of defeat on the part of the faithful.  We can not win a philosophical debate, therefore we will not engage in one.

The Amish, Hasidic Jews and Salafist Muslims are all good at holding on to their flocks. These three groups have different attitudes to conversion – almost no one joins the Amish, a few secular Jews become Hasidic, lots of Muslims embrace strict observance – but their emphasis on behaviour rather than belief gives them a certain robustness in a sceptical 21stcentury. Mainstream Christianity, in contrast, still requires adherents to believe “six impossible things before breakfast”, to quote Lewis Carroll – and then to debate them earnestly with others.The Amish show that you can spend most of your time living the Gospel rather than thinking about it. (An example: when a gunman killed six Amish girls in 2006, their parents shocked the media by promptly forgiving him.) Perhaps there’s a hint of this in Pope Francis’s sermons, which focus on deeds rather than doctrine. At any rate, it’s a pleasing thought that the visitors gawping at the beardies in their buggies may, to some extent, be looking at the future of Christianity.

Musket digs Sculpture

The bride had a biennial family reunion yesterday.  The kids had friends their own age and playground equipment.  The bride had cousins and second cousins and fifth cousins twice removed with which to socialize.  Since the absence of college students had the place looking like a ghost town, the over-sized terrier and I decided to take a walk in Eau Claire.

The big disappointment was that none of the bars had patio furniture out, so I had to forego any adult refreshment.  The good news was that Eau Claire has added some sculpture to its streets.  Some of it wasn't bad.  Some of that was even photogenic.  We started and ended our walk in Carson Park, home of rocks, trees, fishing holes and small town baseball.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Ain't nobody's fault (but mine)

White Flag Syndrome, Creeping Authoritarianism, or both?

Victims are made, not born.

Victimhood is a state learned helplessness.  It is nothing more than a state of mind, but a state of mind that bleeds out in every unscripted word and thought.  The more you embrace it, the stronger the mental habit becomes.  The more you distinguish between what is within your power and what is outside it, and regard only that which is within your power as significant, the less the victim you become.  Bill Clinton beat Newt Gingrich, Eisenhower outlasted the John Birch wing of the Republican Party, everyday some kid out there knocks down a bully, the list of human beings choosing courage over victimhood is endless.  If the President is impotent, it is because due to either skill or character, not the fact that he does not control every lever of power in the American state.

The most powerful victim in the free world is still just a victim.  I look forward to his Hawaiian retirement and my opportunity to forget that he exists.

WhatIf Obama Can't Lead?

Two New York Times reporters recently posited for President Obama this grim scenario: Low growth, high unemployment, and growing income inequality become "the new normal" in the nation he leads. "Do you worry," the journalists asked him, "that that could end up being your legacy simply because of the obstruction ... and the gridlock that doesn't seem to end?" Obama's reply was telling. "I think if I'm arguing for entirely different policies and Congress ends up pursuing policies that I think don't make sense and we get a bad result," he said, "it's hard to argue that'd be my legacy." Actually, it's hard to argue that it wouldn't be his legacy. History judges U.S. presidents based upon what they did and did not accomplish. The obstinacy of their rivals and the severity of their circumstances is little mitigation. Great presidents overcome great hurdles. In Obama's case, the modern GOP is an obstructionist, rudderless party often held hostage by extremists. So … get over it. His response to The New York Times is another illustration that Obama and his liberal allies have a limited—and limiting—definition of presidential leadership.
I call it the White Flag Syndrome.

Daniel Henniger of the Wall Street Journal argues that the flying of the white flag is, by intention or reaction, a feint, with the result of a creeping authoritarianism.  If you are righteous and you are a victim, what are you to do but unseat the evil oppressor by any means necessary?  Gridlock and balance of power are different words for the same reality.  We are gridlocked because the American people are divided.  By playing the victim Obama legitimizes the concerns of his opposition.  If they have done nothing morally wrong, other than having a different point of view, you send the likes of Charlie Rangel out to smear them with racial 
epitaphs.

To create public support for so much unilateral authority, Mr. Obama needs to lessen support for the other two branches of government—Congress and the judiciary. He is doing that.Mr. Obama and his supporters in the punditocracy are defending this escalation by arguing that Congress is "gridlocked." But don't overstate that low congressional approval rating. This is the one branch that represents the views of all Americans. It's gridlocked because voters are.

I would like to think that Victim-think is a pathology with no victim other than the individual who indulges in it.  In reality, however, victim-think, imagined or justified, breeds oppressors as the perceived oppression justifies a suspension of virtue in the name of efficacy.  You do not have to be of any particular political persuasion to question whether or not the President is playing with fire.  You can extend the power of the administrative state, but your party will not always control the White House.  Consistent libertarians are a minority in the American electorate.  Every persuasion, however, will see a day when they wish the Chief Executive wielded less power.       

Don't Run Anymore

Friday is here.  The weekend is sprinting in your direction.  Starting today, stop running.  Build the habits necessary to live a life you won't have any reason to be ashamed of, even if it kills you; it will kill you nonetheless.

The nature of daughters

G: Look Dad.  See how far away from you I am!  See how fast I can run!
DW: Yes I see.  Such is the nature of daughters.  Such is the nature of the universe.

Winter is coming

The summer of 2012 was long and fall came as a welcome relief.  Unknown to us then, the next spring would be delayed, with snow well into May.  Add them and divide by two and you get two average years. 

The lesson: at it's conclusion your life may look "average" but that does not account for the the swings that will be encountered while calculating the mean.  Prepare while you can, winter is coming.  Winter is always coming.



Art Bell returning

Art Bell returns to late night radio.  This time on XM/Sirius.  I have to hope their will also be a podcast.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Art Bell, radio's master of the paranormal and outward edges of science, will return to the microphone on Sept. 16 with a new nighttime show on Sirius XM Radio.

Bell was one of radio's top syndicated voices in the 1990s before walking away from his nightly show in 2002 due to family issues. He worked occasionally after that but hasn't been on the air since Halloween 2010.

"I missed it terribly," said Bell, 68, whose weeknight show will air live from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET. Sirius is building a studio at Bell's rural Nevada home where he will work.

A Sirius representative contacted Bell through social media a few months ago, leading to the formation of his show, "Art Bell's Dark Matter." He'll talk about things like UFOs, ghosts, near-death experiences and weird aspects of science. He'll do interviews and take calls from viewers.

I, Claudius

Overheard:

The key moral I learned from I, Claudius as a child of eight or nine, was, regardless of your assessment of another, to always be polite.  You never know who will become the next emperor and, consequently, have the authority to remove your head from your shoulders.

Carolina Chocolate Drops: Country Girl

Why didn't any of you hip young people tell me about this group?  Have you been holding out on me?

Mercury Dime

I stopped checking my change about fifteen years ago but the nagging little voice said these tokens were different. "Probably, just some Canadian crap," the frontal lobe retorted and out the door I ran. Twelve hours later I am sitting in a meeting and hand drifts into pocket, touches coins, and again NLV requests an investigation. As voices droned frontal lobe relented with a sigh, "It's not like I have anything else to do."

Momentary confusion gave way to joy as frontal lobe processed what eyes reported. I hadn't stumbled across a silver quarter since Bush Sr. was President and never, at least never since I was aware enough to collect them, had I happened upon a "Mercury dime." Thank you nagging little voice. Turns out that breakfast sandwich I bought was free.

 

Distraction,

it's more than when your kids interrupt you five times in ten minutes

You can talk about your evangelists,
you can talk about Mr. Ford too.
Ol' Henry shakin' more Hell outta folks,
then all the evangelists do.

The forecast calls for more lambs to be born late Wednesday afternoon through early Friday morning.