Path to happiness

Note that the title does not say path OF happiness, therefore do not try to find the definition of happiness nor the requirements of it. You should read about it from my earlier post. I, of course cannot force you, my dear reader, for anything, but take it as a friendly suggestion.

Now, that you know how I define happiness, we may continue. Since now I have only described the path of happiness theoretically, giving no clues or examples of how could we see it in our everyday life. I will try to give some guidelines that have worked for me. I will not promise that they will also work in your case, but as there is the possibility then the least I can do is try.

As I am writing this, I feel myself quite near to the true happiness. The feeling will probably be long gone by the time you read it, but I am giving you heads up in case you find the following too optimistic and naive. So, having proved before that reaching true happiness is quite impossible, then how could I be feeling it right now? It is actually quite simple - all you need is warm day, a hammock, a music player and an activity. Sounds a bit too easy? The thing is that it's all I need to forget that I have any needs at all. For the moment, for me, there is no world apart from my small reality of two trees and a hammock. By reaching such state one can feel almost truly happy. Of course there are other ways of reaching the state like for example good books, MMORPGs and alcohol. But one of the most important aspects is the isolation and not only mental but also physical. At the moment, I for example am in the middle of nowhere, next to nothing, which is crucial to hold my little sanctuary together.

Previously described method is good for understanding the meaning of true happiness, but it is something one shouldn't cling on to for too long. It is because the outer reality still exists and sooner or later you have to return to it. If we only could somehow prolong and maintain these moments for a lifetime. Perhaps like they did in the Matrix?

Coming back to reality, then the real moodkiller for me are all kinds of problems. Having a problem troubling my mind is one of the worst kind of feelings I know. Unfortunately, problems stay until they are solved. We can forget about them for a time, but as soon as the effect wears off they are back to make us miserable. Therefore we need a strategy to get rid of them. I imagine a problem as a dark hole filled with angry little goblins screaming and swearing so one cannot ignore them. Some people prefer to sneak around the hole, scheming and waiting for the opportunity to kill some of the nasty goblins. I, on the other hand dislike this kind of action, therefore I jump right into the hole killing anything coming for me. The advantage of my strategy is the time, it is hell of a lot faster, but the damage is also greater, which may require some time to heal from. But as I believe myself to be stronger than any problem I happen to face, my method always works and helps me go on with my life. Still, what I have learned lately is that fighting the problem-goblins may sometimes take time and then I can allow myself to rest a bit and continue as soon as possible. Additionally, for me the first method is exceptionally nasty when you happen to be the source of someones problem. As I am still promoting my method of dealing with problems, then I assure you that whoever you are, you are always stronger than any group of problem-goblins you happen to face. If you are still unsure, grab a friend and jump the hole together if possible.

I hope you found something that could help you make your life happier. Things described above have helped me on my path to happiness, so I am hoping that they can pave the path for others, too. Have fun finding a sanctuary of your own and never lose faith that you are, indeed, strong.

Patriotism

In connection of me going to military service, I've started to think of whether or not I am a patriot to my country. As I discovered, it divides into two components - first being the love for my country, the people who live here  and our culture, second the loyalty to the institution of the country aka the government.

For the first aspect I can truly say that I am a patriot. I love the freedom we have, the food we eat, the lack of natural disasters, that we can live quite comfortably and still have a little change in our pockets and much more. Every time I travel to a different country, I still discover that Estonia is the best place on Earth to live in. This is the country I was born to, therefore making it my home. If there was a crack in my home wall and as long as it doesn't affect my health, it wouldn't even matter to me, because overall it is the best place to be anyway. From time to time I may have illusions that some other country is way better but every time I look closely I see that it isn't. The indescribable feeling I get every time I return from abroad is good enough of a proof for me that I still love my country.

However, the second aspect is the one causing troubles. Every now and then I happen to notice the foolishness spreading among the representatives and that makes me kinda sad. Whether it is wasting of tax-money, corruption or anything of that kind, I feel like they are trying to hurt something I love - my country. So in terms of loving the institution of the country named Estonia, I am not a patriot. That could also be the reason I am not the model citizen they would love to see me as, obeying every rule no matter the stupidity of it.

Therefore, for me our government is the crack in my home, in my country. As I see myself unable to fix it alone, I either have to live with it and still keep on trying or leave my home behind. I see many of our best minds already going for the second option. Perhaps the crack is too big for them and affecting their "health" already. At the moment I still have hope that things will get better and someday I will be able to help the people of Estonia without the middle man working against me I don't want to leave things dearest to me behind, but I would also like to see, that this is something our government also wants. By the latest actions it seems quite the opposite, like the government is trying to drive smart people away by not caring of the things they want and need. Instead we are doing everything we can to help those who doesn't care about themselves nor their country. Actually, that is already entirely different topic. What I am trying to say is that people wouldn't leave this country if government managed to show them that this is something they also want.

The military service is exactly the kind of I-don't-care-about-you-just-do-what-we-ask-of-you message I've been given. Anyway, there is nothing I can do about it even though I could have had the chance to wiggle away, but I was just too lazy and adventurous to go for it. That means I'm stuck with it, but still optimistic.

I've also started a new blog dedicated to describing my life and thoughts in military service. You can find it from the side bar under Captain Taavi. The name is just for humor, even though I am going to the navy, I will never be a captain (although I would love to be, just so I could stress it every time I am being addressed to)

Do you really want to live forever?

Who of us hasn't dreamed of immortality? Ability to live forever until the end of world. On first glance it does seem attractive - to see the future, to have time for everything, to be never afraid of death, to be forever young. This is exactly I thought at first - the best superpower one could have. Although, after familiarized myself with Wilde's  idea of immortality in his "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and giving it some thought myself, I've started to doubt. Would immortality make us happy?

In my earlier post Path of happiness I claimed that one would need infinite amount of time to be happy. That is theoretically correct, although not applicable in practice, even in case of immortality. It is because many of our needs are periodic and maintaining each of them would be impossible. Also, the number of unsatisfied needs tends to grow exponentially as we satisfy them. That is exactly what happens - you want more and more until you don't have enough time to hold all your needs satisfied, but having those makes you unable to be happy.

Say we could hold the number of our needs under control, could we then live happily forever? No, because our needs are not object specific and the joy we get using one tool devalues over time. It means that a joke is only funny once or twice it's being heard even though the need for joy and laughter remains the same. This is exactly what happened to Dorian - he ran out of tools.

There is another, quite trivial aspect to being immortal. It is the losing of everyone you love and hold dear. They haven't been granted the ability to live forever and are therefore bound to die sooner or later. Neither can you linger around for too long or else they get suspicious and threaten to blow your cover of being 'normal'. This constant change of evironment can get quite depressing.

People are meant not to live forever. We should just eat, have kids and die. The world cannot offer limitless ways to make yourself happy.
Being immortal is a burden I hope we are never made to carry.