Happiness is our Heritage

My name is Dr. Nat and I am writing out of Manchester in England.


The purpose of my Blog is to talk about Happiness.


I profoundly believe that Happiness ought to be the most important purpose of our lives, hence this Blog.


I believe that Happiness is our Heritage. It is an inalienable (undeniable) right that each of us has or ought to have. Its absence in a persons life is an intolerable, menacing contradiction that must be corrected. Billions of people the world over recognise this and spend entire lifetimes trying to correct this supremely unhealthy absence of Happiness in their lives but sadly enough, without much success.


But why must it be so? Why should it be that we cannot put right something that is so obviously damaging to ourselves? Why must countless millions of men, women and even children wake up each day and take Prozac or cocktails of other potent anti-depressant drugs just to be able to barely survive the day? Why should people lead painful, desperate and utterly miserable lives of deep-seated self-loathing, unshakable anxiety, immovable depression and irrational fear? Why must we so unnecessarily endure lives of uncertainty, unhappiness and unworthiness? WHY?


A Heritage is a legacy. It is an inheritance. It is thus rightful ownership. So when I say that Happiness is our Heritage - I mean it is an entitlement of all human beings. Unfortunately there is so little of it going around. It is as though most of us have been disinherited; as if we are daily being deprived of something that is unquestionably our birthright. It is as though we are being denied a critical component of the things that we need to live a full and purposeful life. In any society where people are denied their most fundamental rights - it is called 'Disenfranchisement'. To lack Happiness in your life therefore is to be 'Disenfranchised'! Now how can that be right?


Like many words that seek to describe human feelings, the word Happiness does not readily lend itself to an easy, all-embracing single definition. The Cambridge Dictionary folks nonetheless help us out here by describing Happiness as "A state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure or joy."


For the sake of simplicity I am going to thank the Cambridge folks for their help and embrace their general definition for now. However, I am also proceeding on the assumption that we all know what being Happy is all about or at least what it ought to feel like or be like. Maybe somewhere along the line, as we gain more insights, we may get to add to, or simply help clarify this definition further.


An important aim of my Blog is to have a place where people can come together and share ideas and experiences as to how to achieve Happiness in our lives; how to reclaim our birthright of Happiness. Through this we may very well be able to fashion the building blocks that will help us construct the signposts showing us some of the pathways to upliftment, fulfilment and Happiness. But these signposts, though completely important are not enough. They are certainly a part of the crucial journey but only point us in the right direction. Our mission though, is not only to be able to just see and map out the route - but to actually GET THERE!


The author of this Blog does not claim to have solutions at his fingertips that will enable people attain instant Happiness. This is not an Agony Aunt or Uncle site where someone sits from on high and doles out everyday pearls of wisdom and solutions and says 'go do as I say and hey presto - all will be well'. That is not reality. Neither is it truthfulness.


I believe that far too many people underrate the ABSOLUTE importance of Happiness in our lives. One of the greatest Philosophers that ever lived stated categorically and without hesitation that: "HAPPINESS IS THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF LIFE, THE WHOLE AIM AND END OF HUMAN EXISTENCE".


This quote is from none other than ARISTOTLE himself. Now are any of us unwise enough to dispute this timeless and most truthful assertion of his? Come on guys - I so don't think so! So let us then always bear in mind that probably the most influential Philosopher in History - to whom the world owes so much - agrees completely with us that the ULTIMATE in life, what we must strive for is HAPPINESS!


I will leave you with this for now and return soon with more for us to share. Talking about Happiness is a huge matter. The issues surrounding its attainment or its absence are multifarious, multidimensional, practically multi-everything! Also it's too important an issue in our lives to treat shabbily. Thus we have much to talk about. I wish you all well.


I shall return.