emilyhesp

As Outlined by the Dalai Lama, Al Ghazzali and Aristotle.

I wrote this essay for one of my classes in my first year of university and I am quite fond of it, so I am sharing it here. The message conveyed formally draws from the philosophical writings of the Dalai Lama, Al Ghazzali and Aristotle, but I mostly chose to write about this topic because it is personally meaningful.

“As children, happiness is something we experience. We are taken care of, amused and learn by the actions of others. As adults, however, we shoulder the responsibility of creating our happiness. Age reveals to us the indifferent and entropic character of life; people hate, nature kills, health fails, and society discriminates. There is negativity everywhere if you choose to look for it, which can make maintaining a happy disposition a personal responsibility. To live happily in a world where hardship abounds is to cultivate self-knowledge and act in good faith so that you may be a bastion of goodness in an otherwise harsh world. 

The Dalai Lama suggests that adopting a contemplative attitude toward human suffering can “counteract feelings of…unhappiness.” (Dalai Lama 1998, 140). The idea is grounded in the Buddhist concept of Samsara, an endless cycle of death and rebirth we can only escape once liberated from the “negative tendencies of the mind” (140). Meditating on ourselves and our circumstances allows us to reframe suffering as natural, reducing self-pitying feelings of injustice and victimhood. In doing so, we can confidently move beyond “the three poisons of the mind” (142) that are ignorance, craving and hatred, and make peace with the injustices and misfortunes of human life. Beyond peace lies compassion in the form of Tong-Len, a visualization technique that allows one to take on another’s pain and suffering in exchange for their own wellbeing. Through accepting our own suffering, we can move past ourselves and bring goodness into the lives of others. 

In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle defines happiness as a “good life” characterized by “good action” (Aristotle 1990 [350 BCE], 12). Happiness is the “end of action” (10), a sort of cumulative byproduct of the virtuous manner in which one chooses to conduct themselves. This idea is closely related to the writings of Al Ghazzali, a renowned polymath, scholar, and theologian. His philosophy centered the knowledge and love of God as the basis for happiness, but also spoke to the angelic character of one’s spiritual heart as the driving force behind their actions (Al Ghazzali 1873 [1097], 27). To Al Ghazzali, choice and reason play a central role in one’s happiness.  The “dominion…of the heart and subordination of the body” (28) substantiates our divine, near-godlike capacity to exert our will over hedonistic desires, destructive qualities and material want. Therefore, our happiness is limited insofar that we can overcome these “animalistic propensities” (41) through the resilience of one’s desire to live in God’s image. 

Just as the Dalai Lama suggests that accepting one’s suffering helps one to endure it, Aristotle believed that a person can withstand life’s misfortunes not through “insensibility to pain” but rather by “nobility and greatness of soul” (Aristotle 1990 [350 BCE], 16). Meditation, virtue, and force of will require one to transcend instinct and choose how one wishes to lead their life. In a chaotic and unpredictable world, the happy life belongs to the individual who knows herself, loves herself, and extends that love to the world she lives in.”

References

Aristotle. Nichomachean Ethics. Translated by W.D Ross. Kitchener: Bartoche Books, 3-20. 1999 (350 BCE). 

Al-Ghazzali, Mohammed. The Alchemy of Happiness. Translated by Henry Homes. J. Munsell, State Street, 3-19. 1873 (1097)

Lama, Dalai The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living. New York City: Riverhead Books, 1-18, 133-148, 199-216. (1998)