So, apparently, its rather easy: Happiness = P + (5xE) + (3xH)

Some of the variables used by scientists in deriving this formula were health, financial stability, friendship ambitions, having a sense of humour and romance. If these, and other scientifically suggested criteria, are the basis of happiness, we are always going to be unhappy… always. At any given moment we aren’t…

1. with family and friends,
2. with lots of money,
3. with perfect health,
4. with a sense of humour,
5. in cyberspace,
6. living in Denmark,
7. with an electrode brain implant, (?!)
8. etc.,

…all at the same time. I would be incorrect in saying that these things don’t make us happy; they do, temporarily. But, why temporarily? Where do we run to when we have less money, when we are sick, when a family member or close friend isn’t there anymore? Do we just find another temporary escape? Enter sports, television, music, computer games. Again, these can bring about a  certain degree of happiness and, in moderation, there is probably no harm in them. Now let’s consider that these activities get boring after a while so on we go to another level; drugs, alcohol, pornography. Still alright? Addiction to these…still ok? This chain of events introduces dependency on the temporal and seems to shackle us to this world more and more. We can’t be truly happy.

…the more he becomes immersed in material progress, the more does his spirituality become obscured.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 106)

The soul is our reality, not the body. When the inevitable happens and we die, our body remains here and all our riches and embellishments stay with it.

True happiness depends on spiritual good and having the heart ever open to receive the Divine Bounty.

If the heart turns away from the blessings God offers how can it hope for happiness? If it does not put its hope and trust in God’s Mercy, where can it find rest? Oh, trust in God! for His Bounty is everlasting, and in His Blessings, for they are superb. Oh! put your faith in the Almighty, for He faileth not and His goodness endureth for ever! His Sun giveth Light continually, and the Clouds of His Mercy are full of the Waters of Compassion with which He waters the hearts of all who trust in Him. His refreshing Breeze ever carries healing in its wings to the parched souls of men! Is it wise to turn away from such a loving Father, Who showers His blessings upon us, and to choose rather to be slaves of matter?

God in His infinite goodness has exalted us to so much honour, and has made us masters over the material world. Shall we then become her slaves? Nay, rather let us claim our birthright, and strive to live the life of the spiritual sons of God.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 108)

What makes our reality happy is our efforts to draw closer to our Creator (subsequent posts will expound on this). And, though we may find this difficult at times, we can always rely on the fact that His infinite love and assistance are always accessible to us, if only we seek it.

Ye are even as the bird which soareth, with the full force of its mighty wings and with complete and joyous confidence, through the immensity of the heavens, until, impelled to satisfy its hunger, it turneth longingly to the water and clay of the earth below it, and, having been entrapped in the mesh of its desire, findeth itself impotent to resume its flight to the realms whence it came. Powerless to shake off the burden weighing on its sullied wings, that bird, hitherto an inmate of the heavens, is now forced to seek a dwelling-place upon the dust.

(Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 326)

Simply put, detachment can be viewed as “not being attached or dependent on something”.  Attachment to things such as wealth, power and people, even close family and friends, can sometimes act as a barrier between us and God.  Detachment implies that, while making use of what is available to us, our relationship with God is left uncompromised; a relationship that is based on service and obedience to his laws. It implies that, regardless of our present degree of prosperity — material or otherwise — our inner drive must essentially be spiritual in nature.

How can detachment make us happier? It obviates that yearning for the temporary, allows for a clearer, moderate and more objective thought process which in turn provides a stepping stone for the development of our spiritual character.

What are some of the ways in which we can increase our detachment? Through prayer, through continual reflection on our every action (and, hence, any necessary correction).  According to a talk delivered by Abdu’l-Baha,  we should exert our “our greatest efforts”, a counsel which is often neglected due to our apathy and personal comfort zones. In prayers revealed by the Central Figures of the Baha’i Faith, attaining the state of detachment is a common admonition — in fact, it is worth noting that entire sections of prayer compilations are devoted to this theme. Prayer is thus an essential element to help us progress towards a higher state of detachment.

Also, through the sorrows and suffering that we encounter, we can become more detached:

Just as the plough furrows the earth deeply, purifying it of weeds and thistles, so suffering and tribulation free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a state of complete detachment

(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 177)

In the next part of the this series, we will look into how suffering and sacrifice can provide us with greater contentment.

The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering…His attitude in this world will be that of divine happiness. Man is, so to speak, unripe: the heat of the fire of suffering will mature him. Look back to the times past and you will find that the greatest men have suffered most…. Through suffering he will attain to an eternal happiness which nothing can take from him. The apostles of Christ suffered: they attained eternal happiness.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 178)

No-one enjoys sorrow. Suffering presents itself in countless ways and it is for this reason that no-one is left unaffected.  Everyone is tested in various ways; ways which may differ from person to person. Whilst many a time we may find circumstances unbearable,  it is how we deal with, and accept the latent wisdom that lies within these challenges, that provides a path to happiness:

…suffering, although an inescapable reality, can nevertheless be utilised as a means for the attainment of happiness. This is the interpretation given to it by all the prophets and saints who, in the midst of severe tests and trials, felt happy and joyous and experienced what is best and holiest in life. Suffering is both a reminder and a guide. It stimulates us better to adapt ourselves to our environmental conditions, and thus leads the way to self improvement. In every suffering one can find a meaning and a wisdom. But it is not always easy to find the secret of that wisdom. It is sometimes only when all our suffering has passed that we become aware of its usefulness. What man considers to be evil turns often to be a cause of infinite blessings.

(Shoghi Effendi, The Unfolding Destiny of the British Baha’i Community)

Be it illness, the loss of a loved one, or poverty, amongst the many struggles we are faced with, a lot of the times it is through suffering that we develop more compassion and are more willing to sacrifice ourselves for the betterment of the lives of those around us:

To attain eternal happiness one must suffer. He who has reached the state of self-sacrifice has true joy. Temporal joy will vanish.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 178)

Ever wondered why the simple act of giving gifts makes us happy?  In its purest form it is not merely the act of giving the gift, but sacrificial interplay on a higher level. How much more the mutual happiness that can be derived from acts of service on a highly participatory, more global scale?  How much more rewarding to unceasingly sacrifice for our  Creator, the Infinite?:

In the Bahá’í Cause arts, sciences and all crafts are (counted as) worship. The man who makes a piece of notepaper to the best of his ability, conscientiously, concentrating all his forces on perfecting it, is giving praise to God. Briefly, all effort and exertion put forth by man from the fullness of his heart is worship, if it is prompted by the highest motives and the will to do service to humanity. This is worship: to serve mankind and to minister to the needs of the people. Service is prayer. A physician ministering to the sick, gently, tenderly, free from prejudice and believing in the solidarity of the human race, he is giving praise.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 176)

In addition, service helps us overlook our own perceived shortcomings (and, sometimes, imaginary remedies), which are often a source of discontent:

The more we search for ourselves, the less likely we are to find ourselves; and the more we search for God, and to serve our fellow-men, the more profoundly will we become acquainted with ourselves, and the more inwardly assured. This is one of the great spiritual laws of life.

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, February 18, 1954)

Suffering and sacrifice can be overwhelming at times so what can sustain us? – it is the faith that our sacrifices can be the cause of irreversible spiritual growth, both for us and for those around us.   Faith will be discussed in the next post.

“…and the food of them who haste to meet Thee is the fragments of their broken hearts.”
(Baha’u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 95)

Many decades ago, Abdu’l-Bahá explained the secret behind The Secret: “As ye have faith so shall your powers and blessings be“.

One should strive to have faith that, using the teachings of God for today as our beacon, no obstacles will obscure the endpoint of our journey, will make us “content with the decree of God,” and will give us the perception to see “war as peace“, and find “in death the secrets of everlasting life“.  In a world ridden by war and conflict, merely imagining a world without conflict defies the logic created by our finite minds, as a result of this being our only experience, our only benchmark.   Baha’u'llah mentions seeing “war as peace”. This seems almost unthinkable given the tragedies the world has witnessed over time.

So in what way can we view “war as peace”?  To imagine the unimaginable requires faith, but who’s to say the unimaginable is even possible?  If we view God as the Creator of all things, our Protector, and trust that He has and will continue to provide us with guidance through his Manifestations, herein lies the unshakable essence of faith.  Most recently, the teachings of Baha’u'llah hold the solutions to personal and global woes, the fruits of which will appear over time.  The speed at which this happens though, depends on us.

The more we suffer, the more opportunity we have to increase our faith.  Often, time binds us to situation and our faith is tested.  However, as time passes grief turns into happiness and we wonder why we were so troubled about our concerns in the first place.  This cycle repeats itself and we grow stronger in our faith, but only should we choose to.

The ability to “see the end in the beginning” can go a long way in filling our reservoir of faith:

…since the end was veiled to him, he moaned and made his plaint in the beginning. Yet those who journey in the garden land of knowledge, because they see the end in the beginning, see peace in war and friendliness in anger.

(Baha’u'llah, The Seven Valleys, p. 13)

As we witness injustice and grief all around us, it becomes a lot easier to adopt a defeatist attitude than to have faith, to place one’s complete trust in God, and then act towards a positive solution.  By striving towards greater steadfastness of faith, our mindset becomes more positive and detached, and contentment is made more readily accessible:

It is such faith which sufficeth above all the things that exist on the earth, whereas no created thing on earth besides faith would suffice thee…If thou art a believer, thy faith shall be sufficient for thee above all things that exist on earth, even though thou possess nothing.

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 122)

The next post will draw to a close this series on Happiness with some final thoughts.

In the search for spiritual contentment, everything that draws us closer to God will make up happier, and to find God in this day is to recognize and accept His Channel to us.  Baha’u'llah, who Baha’is believe is the latest in the line of  Manifestations from God says, in the first paragraph of His Most Holy Book, the Kitab-i-Aqdas:

The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, Who representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of creation.

(Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 19)

We owe it to ourselves to conquer sadness with joy, and to actively seek it. We owe it to our latent capacities of intellect, comprehension and intelligence; in other words, to achieving our God-given potential. Consider this passage:

Joy gives us wings! In times of joy our strength is more vital, our intellect keener, and our understanding less clouded. We seem better able to cope with the world and to find our sphere of usefulness. But when sadness visits us we become weak, our strength leaves us, our comprehension is dim and our intelligence veiled. The actualities of life seem to elude our grasp,  the eyes of our spirits fail to discover the sacred mysteries, and we become even as dead beings.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 109)

The nature of life is such that it will always have it’s ups and downs. Nobody goes through life without experiencing some form of hardship, be it mental or physical. Yet, the degree to which external factors affect one’s internal well-being is a true indicator of spiritual strength.

“Anybody can be happy in the state of comfort, ease, health, success, pleasure and joy; but if one will be happy and contented in the time of trouble, hardship and prevailing disease, it is the proof of nobility.”

(Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha v2, p. 263)

Photograph by Nathan Wolfe

There is a softness that often times creeps in when sitting silently. The despondent and yet comforting rain falling outside lends itself to a certain mood. OK. Take a breath. Close your eyes.

The peal of the lightning and thunder somewhere up above me keeps playing on my mind. It settles in. Happiness settles in. And yet this quiet but incessant voice speaks to me — “what do you know of hardship, of persecution, of oppression?” And then a chain reaction is set off and I ask myself — how do I even suppose to know empathy? How do we communicate happiness as an actual remedy for the harshness and brutality that we see in the world? Does a focus on happiness and contentment simply distract us from seeking and attaining justice?

Here are two ideas which help shape my next series of thoughts:

- Baha’is work for the betterment of the world, and
– The pivotal belief in the oneness of all mankind directs our efforts.

The Baha’i Faith is not simply concerned with survival, as any emerging consciousness or force in the world often has to come to terms with. Its purpose is not to generate an enclosed community composed of a core of devoted adherents. It seeks to be in constant motion, ever inviting all to participate in building the unity of the world. This sense of purpose necessarily directs a certain mindset that must not be divided.

I met a Hindu man recently who spoke of how seemingly in the West there exists this dichotomy between the heart and the mind; and that success in this plane of reality is bent upon one thing — the integration of being and doing. Then, perhaps to be content or happy does not negate striving for justice. We are not so limited in our emotional and spiritual capacity to only exist in one state at a time. The challenge is to bring a sense of unity to our efforts that spans across and enfolds all manifestations of the human experience. We must seek a mindset built upon coherence. When the fundamental ideas that act on or shape our identity presuppose each other, so that in isolation they would be meaningless, that is coherence.

When reflecting on the interaction between happiness and justice, understanding that they are interrelated and quite deeply connected is integral to their application. There are, of course, many types of happiness or things that bring us joy in this world. Our appreciation of those things is often related to our present state of orientation, and there is much in this world that makes itself available for personal pleasure. At this point, I think we have to review in what way we are defining happiness. True joy and true happiness (as described in the Baha’i Writings) is what comes from a deep and abiding sense of purpose. In fact, Baha’u’llah has defined true well being in the world as this: “Human life was created for happiness and not for sorrow”.

Happiness is in fact a spiritual concept. Abdu’l-Baha has affirmed this when he wrote that “spiritual happiness is the true basis of the life of man”. It is related to the spiritual transformation of both the individual and the collective society. It acts as a force for attraction. It is a super-sensuous phenomenon, ultimately transcending this physical reality, but nevertheless manifests itself, in its true form, as unity.

Its true aim, by serving as a foundation for a collective consciousness built upon the purpose of individual and collective spiritual development, is for the unification of mankind. Thus, it is an inherent quality in the construction and attainment of human relationships of all kinds, be they interpersonal or institutional.

When considering how one works for the betterment of the world, justice is a fixed component of that effort. Rather than seeking a utilitarian view that happiness, on a grander scale, should only be sought for the greatest number of people, we should understand justice as that which is the strongest foundation for the securing of happiness of all. Baha’u’llah has written that perhaps the primary purpose of government is that, through justice, contentment must be secured for all its citizens. He has also written that “justice is the appearance of unity amongst men.”

In this we can surmise that perhaps through the attainment of spiritual happiness, unity is born. Justice, which in one sense can be described as the application of reward and punishment and also as the power of discernment, is the indomitable tool with which we both continue our spiritual search but also safeguard our unity and happiness.

There is much that clouds our ability to attain happiness in this world — but working to cut through all that, to focus on principle, value, and the spiritual qualities inherent in everything, we can access a force and power which will help direct the rehabilitation of our surroundings.

Photo credit: Tom Dyson.

The older one gets, the more one’s own mortality becomes painfully evident.  I had a dream the other night that I was on a jet.  My sister was in the lavatory, and I was outside telling her a joke, wanting to make her laugh.

Suddenly, the plane began to plummet.  We both grew silent, on opposite sides of the door, and in my head, all I could think about was how much had been left undone.

Maybe I had that dream because recently, I’ve witnessed people around me, young and old, be afflicted with terminal illnesses.  I spent the weekend in Northern Virginia, at my pseudo-relatives’ home.  My father and another childhood friend of theirs were visiting D.C., and what was meant to be a jovial reunion weekend was tinged with a sense of how quickly life can change.

Mahin Khanum, my pseudo-uncle’s mother, had last week been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She had been a feisty woman with a sparkle in her eye who lost her husband at a young age and, at a not-so-young age, picked up and moved from Iran to Brazil when her two sons moved there. Whereas only weeks ago she was meddling in the kitchen, piling endless tea glasses into the dishwasher and effortlessly whipping up steaming pots of Basmati rice, Mahin Khanum could now hardly speak or react, let alone bathe herself.

In a rare moment of calm at the kitchen table, which was littered with crumbs and crammed with plates of fruit and half-empty glasses of tea, Mahsheed joon, my pseudo-aunt, leaned her elbow on the table and placed her head in her hand.  “Zendegi chegadr zood migzareh,” she sighed.  “How quickly life passes by.”  Switching to English, sweetly accented with Persian and Brazilian Portuguese tones, she waved her fork in the air and said, “You are young! Enjoy your youth and don’t take so heavily what might come in the future.”

A few weeks ago, I might have dismissed that advice as frivolous.  But in the midst of another hectic workday, her words rung through my mind, and I wondered whether I was wrongly associating living a purposeful life with gravity and heaviness.  I remembered a quotation from The Secret of Divine Civilization:

It is clear that life in this fast-fading world is as fleeting and inconstant as the morning wind, and this being so, how fortunate are the great who leave a good name behind them, and the memory of a lifetime spent in the pathway of the good pleasure of God.
‘Abdu’l-Baha, Secret of Divine Civilization, page 70.

I can home tonight, and throwing myself on the couch, I picked up my weathered copy of The Secret of Divine Civilization, searching in vain for the passage.  And as I did, I flipped to the last page and stumbled upon this:

“Happy the soul that shall forget his own good, and like the chosen ones of God, vie with his fellows in service to the good of all…”
‘Abdu’l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, page 116

It seems that in the end, what everyone is seeks is a kind of happiness.  The way they go about obtaining that happiness, however, runs the spectrum of being of benefit to being harmful to others.  Some find happiness in shopping (harmless); some, in volunteer work (beneficial); and some, in vandalism (harmful).  When I think about it, I can’t help but think that some of the pursuit of happiness is linked with that nagging feeling we’re going to get old and die.

Well, we are going to get old and die.  And like that moment in my dream, many of us are terrified– not so much that it may be painful, but that we might die and regret that we didn’t live a full life.

In this ever-fragmented, ever-frantic city, these thoughts sometimes elude us.  Or sometimes, we may mistake a “full life” as being those things that, while wonderful, bring us elusive happiness.  I love Washington, with all its quirks, but sometimes it seems as if someone hit a fast-forward button and forgot to hit “pause.”  Those of us in this city sometimes live as if we’re invincible– and that when we do die, all that really matters is how many times our name appeared in print.

But I have to wonder that, when this life ends– and if you don’t believe in an afterlife, when you lie down at night and honestly assess what you’ve done and who you are– what can we say about a life in service for the good of all?  In this ever-fragmented city, it’s easy to be worn out, run ragged, pulled in many directions, and anxious about career prospects.

It was dusk on Saturday evening, the setting sun peeking through the drawn curtains.  Mahin Khanum’s granddaughter, weary-eyed from a sleepless week, grasped her grandmother’s hands in her own, swinging them and singing old Brazilian carnaval songs to her.  There, amidst the pain and exhaustion, was a token of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s words– forgetting her own self, for the good of a loved one in the sunset of her life in this fast-fading world.

Wakili McNeill from Malcolm X Drummers and Dancers group at the 31st Adams Morgan Day Festival. (Photo Credit: Barbara Krawcowicz)

Maybe it was the graying of the skies, summer impatient to morph into fall.  A lively street festival, Adams Morgan Day, had descended upon my neighborhood on a sunny Sunday in early September– the air thick with smoke from grills sizzling with Jamaican jerk chicken, throbbing with the sound of drums from a Ghanaian dance troupe, as thick crowds of young and old and black and brown and white weaved through stalls selling scarves and jewels, and where local artists displayed their work.  The last day of summer hadn’t yet arrived, but the next morning, shuffling past sleepy cafes on the two-mile trek to work, it wasn’t raining but somehow the air felt damp, and clouds quilted the sky, making all gray and quiet.

My neighborhood is colorful and diverse in every sense, an eyeful and a story on every corner of every block.  But the part of town in which I work lacks some soul, a claustrophobic cacophony of steel and glass.  Men in black suits and ties lunch over terms like How Do We Get Our Work Onto the Agenda, and women practical heels punch at a Blackberry in right hand, cigarette in left.  Exit the polite double doors of any given office building, and one is welcomed by blaring of taxis honking, the whooshing of FedEx trucks and words, words, words about work in a language that I used to try to understand, but now seems so foreign.  There is a certain worldly power associated with this part of town– the World Bank, the IMF, the White House, the many lobbying firms and think-tanks that crowd the few blocks of downtown Washington, D.C.  And yet, I see so many blank stares, pinched faces, stressed countenances.  And many times I’ve thought: So many of them don’t seem happy.

***

I’m on a housing hunt these days.  I was barely a week back home from a trip when my roommate informed me that she was moving to a different part of town, giving me thirty days to scramble to find a place to live.  So my evenings have been packed with open houses, putting on a smile and nodding through chore expectations, and the obligatory small talk that characterizes the interview process.  And while I’d throw myself, exhausted, onto the couch in my half-empty apartment at night, I reflected on what I’d seen in the city.  The hunt took me to all corners, and while the rent was the same, the neighborhoods varied.  Rowhouses on quaint, tree-lined streets in quiet neighborhoods morphed into what some called the “rough” part of town, a fact which I conveniently hid from my parents.  My heart raced a little faster as I raced through these streets, and I wondered why the city was so fragmented.

One such neighborhood where my housing hunt has taken is the one in which I teach a children’s class.  On Saturday afternoons, with my co-teachers, we wave to neighbors as we collect the children, some of whom last week were dragging themselves to class.  I stopped by on a Wednesday evening, after looking at several homes in the children’s neighborhood.  And while I was already late for a class, I couldn’t help but linger on their street, where some of my students were teasing each other on front stoops, and scampering about the playground.  I was greeted with hugs and squeezes and laughter, as the obligatory drunken loiterers lounging in the playground muttered incoherently.  It isn’t an easy neighborhood, one where the children see and experience things that I hadn’t at their age.  And sometimes I see the struggles of immigrant families, of double-unbelonging, of making ends meet, and of the materialism so prevalent in American society pressing its finger upon their new lives in this country.  But despite the rough edges that characterize the neighborhood, I left that evening, prying the children’s arms from my waist and blowing kisses as I said goodbye, with a joy surging in my heart that I hadn’t felt for weeks.

***

And all of this– the stress of moving, the juxtaposition of materially poor and rich, and moving seamlessly between worlds seemingly apart– has made me think about happiness, a topic that has been covered in this space before.  As I mulled over this topic, I remembered a quotation by ‘Abdu’l-Baha that I’d read in The Secret of Divine Civilization:

…human happiness consists only in drawing closer to the Threshold of Almighty God, and in securing the peace and well-being of every individual member, high and low alike, of the human race; and the supreme agencies for accomplishing these two objectives are the excellent qualities with which humanity has been endowed.

‘Abdu’l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, page 60

***

To be continued in Part II.