HAPPINESS & SPINOZA

Some friends say they're unhappy. When I write to them I almost feel guilty for they know how I've been enjoying life for many years. History's great philosophers haven't shied from offering their recipes for happiness, though too many of them say that happiness is being philosophical. For example, Aristotle claimed that happiness lies in virtuous activity, and perfect happiness lies in the best activity, which is contemplation. At least Schopenhauer is different, insisting that there's no such thing as happiness, for an unfulfilled wish causes pain, while attainment brings only satiety.

My favorite philosopher, Spinoza, took a more textured approach. He observed that we humans are knocked about on a sea of emotions, and that by controlling our emotions we become happier. Also, we must use our reasoning powers to rid ourselves of imaginary problems, such as fearing the wrath of a judgmental personal God, who doesn't exist.

A judgmental, personal God may not exist for Spinoza, but Spinoza does "prove" that God exists as the One Thing of which everything in the Universe (Nature) is an expression. And the very process of using rational thought to know the truth about ourselves in relation to reality changes our very nature, making us free. And happiness is freedom, Spinoza says.

Spinoza assures us that God is perfection, and truth acquired through rational thought leads us to that perfection. As we approach perfection, not only do we lose our personal identities, but also gain a certain form of immortality, for to the degree that we merge with the infinite web of Nature, which is God, we enter an infinitely enduring presence.

My take on the matter is that studying and experiencing Nature here on Earth enables us to glimpse the physical aspect of what Spinoza calls God. Knowledge about Nature gained through rational thought lets us glimpse the mental state of his God. And when we stand in a honey-smelling field of glowing Goldeneye Sunflowers visualizing ourselves as physical/mental/emotional/spiritual entities utterly integrated with the sunflowers, the field, the biosphere, Gaia, the stars and galaxies at night, and the Creative Impulse that summons it all forth... we glimpse the spiritual face of God.

And this whole process of simply living, experiencing, thinking, feeling and consciously searching for meanings beyond -- though the human mind can never know all the details -- makes us happy, just by making the effort. That's been my experience.