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Contentment: How then can we Liv?
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Introduction
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Straining the baby from the bath water: Joy true and false, prerequisites to joy
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Straining the baby from the bath water
by Aramus Crane
Gill opines that we were discontented before the Fall. Thus, he would say that not all discontent is sin. "Man is naturally a discontented creature, especially since the fall; nay, it was discontent which was the cause of that; our first parents not being content with the state of happiness in which they were." So, not only would he say that discontent is in our genes but also that unhappiness was in our genetic fabric prior to the Fall. We see that Eve's discontent also came by comparing herself to God. Satan promised her that she would become like God, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5)
Since discontent existed before the fall, we can be sure that there is a good type of discontent. "All human activity is prompted by desire," said Bertrand Russell. It is by his discontent with the cold that man harnessed fire, and through discontent with darkness that he made the lightbulb. Technological advances are sparked by discontent but never totally resolve them. "Restlessness and discontent are the necessities of progress," said Thomas A. Edison. The fire that is harnessed breaks its bonds and burns down the house. Lightbulbs burn out quickly and need replacing. This creates unhappiness that sparks other ideas~~the fire extinguisher and the diode. Because we don't feel happy that others are naked and starving, we give food and clothing instead of just saying, "be warmed and filled." "One who is contented with what he has done will never become famous for what he will do. He has lain down to die, and the grass is already over him." (Christian Nestell Bovee) It was the discomfort of seeing so many unhappy people and of being one of them that I researched this subject and write you today. These are God-sent interludes of unhappiness.
"If we felt bountifully happy all the time, we would not desire it. We would take it for granted like the attraction of gravity. So happiness in its degrees and absence serves useful purposes. What are they?
"Like the experience of pain, unhappiness means something needs fixing. It evolved into us as an internal warning system that alerts us of danger.
"Paralleling this, happiness functions to say we are OK, we are safe, we are out of danger – it is the involuntary neural and subjective state for when we do not feel unhappy. The desire for it also evolved into us.
"More than an alert, unhappiness also drives us. It impels us automatically to desire and seek happiness rather than feel unhappy. It pushes us automatically to escape unhappiness and the danger unhappiness represents.
"Pushing us to obtain more and more happiness, the drive to escape from unhappiness continues beyond its immediate goal." (Knowledge of God: Happiness and a Scientific Method for Theology Kevin Sharpe 2002)
A certain amount of discontent is important for the survival of the human race, but clearly the West has become slaves to discontent. Our families are destroyed by the discontent that makes parents work 12 hour days. Some spouses seek happiness in a love affair or in another mate. Teens seek the pleasure of the latest happy-pill. Unhappiness and hopelessness has made the United States and Russia the top two countries for suicides, and these are two countries where the majority confess to know Cortright's Jesus. With the objective to discover what unhappiness is and what causes it, let us begin our mission.
Prerequisites to contentment
There are a number of prerequisites to happiness. You cannot hope to make yourself or others happy if they have not deal with emotional traumas of early childhood--abuse, neglect, etc. Achieving this is beyond the scope of this series. Read some books like Unfinished Business by Sell or Boundaries by Cloud and Townsend. Other prerequisites are the instinctual needs of survival and security, and the daily necessities of food, water, and shelter. It is commonly said that it is senseless to preach the Gospel or teach happiness to an empty stomach. If you are reading this, most likely you do not fall into this category of people.
Misconceptions of happiness
"Someone who has wealth as his or her idea of happiness is worshiping a false God. Someone who has fame as the object is worshiping a false God." Thomas Keating (Centering Prayer as Divine Therapy. Kate Olsen 1995) Money won't bring you happiness, or the richest country in the world, the US, would not have the highest divorce and suicide rates.
Alcohol, drugs, work or other escape tactics which can help you avoid dealing with your feelings do not provide a permanent escape from sadness. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, 'To fill the hour--that is happiness." More appropriately, it is a temporary escape from sadness. I did this for years as a Christian, working 80 hour per week and amassing an impressive array of achievements helping the poor, sick and orphaned. It is a disease affecting many people, especially those the world considers the most successful. This occupies the mind but also stresses it. The end of the day comes, you sober up, and you come down off your high and you have to face the same problems and the same you. Whatever sadness avoided is paid for with one's peace. Peace comes in the calm, not the storm of life. "Happiness is the harvest of a quiet eye." Austin O'Malley Filling life with activities leaves no time for enjoyment or peace. I feel sorry for Emerson and regret having done that myself. I would discourage anyone from attempting this. Reality will someday wake you up to face your life and you won't like where you've gone or who you have become.
Definition of happiness
What is happiness, contentment and joy? To understand each other, we need to define our terms. The American Heritage Dictionary doesn't give us much help in coming to terms with happiness. It defines happy as "1. Characterized by good luck; fortunate. 2. Enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure or joy." Not very helpful and in fact, as we discuss later, good fortune does not bring happiness. Well, what does joy mean? "1. A condition or feeling of great pleasure or happiness; delight. 2. The expression or manifestation of such feeling." So, happiness is joy and joy is happiness. All clear now??? What it has to say about content is a bit more helpful: "1. Not desiring more than one has; satisfied. 2. Resigned to circumstances; assenting" OK, how about pleasure? This definition seems to lead us in a more concrete direction.
"1. An enjoyable sensation or emotion; delight. 2. A source of enjoyment, gratification, or delight. 3. Amusement, diversion, or worldly enjoyment. 4. Sensual gratification or indulgence. 5. One's preference, wish or choice... Pleasure is the least forceful [compared to enjoyment, delight, or joy]. Sometimes, though not invariably, it suggests superficial and transitory emotion resulting from the conscious pursuit of happiness, and sometimes it is merely a form in polite address."
So, the dictionary seems better at explaining the most transitive and least desirable of the terms. Pleasure, especially worldly pleasures of wine, women, and song are of least concern to those of us who love God and others. We seek something that lasts more than a few minutes and doesn't have negative consequences. A Spanish proverb which touches on truth and humor says, "If you want to have a good day, take a shave, a good month, slay a pig, a good year, marry; but if you want all your days to be good, become a priest." "All seek joy, but it is not found on earth." (St. John Chrysostom: Homilies, XVIII)
The dictionary launches us into the world of sensations and emotions, the world of perception, the mind and body chemistry. So, let us take the dictionary's impetus and see what science says about these items. What is the etiology, the genesis of an enjoyable sensation? Happiness is a physiological and mental process that, to a great extent, can be measured in the laboratory. Epinephrine, endorphens, and dopamine are chemicals produced in the body that is interpreted by the brain as happiness. Serotonin is a depressive chemical. So scientists have an idea what body chemicals cause the perception of contentment and joy. 'Hamer directs our attention to two of the more than 300 known neurotransmitters, dopaminesthe brain's chemical for pleasures and serotonin, the neurochemical for misery.' (Sharpe) So, we either need to take injections of those chemicals or see what it is that causes the body to create them.
First, I would like to make reference to a movie starring (among others) Billy Crystal that to me was entertaining and enlightening. The city-slicker characters go to a dude ranch to find out the meaning of life. The leader of the ranch holds up his finger and says, "This". They ask "what?" The wise old man says, "That is what you have to find out." Likewise, I don't think that there is any one thing that will make all people happy. Some like baseball. Some play racquetball to have fun. Some enjoy loud music and some classical. Some find joy in God while others are not called and claim to have some degree of enjoyment without finding Him. So, unlike an Asian monk, I'm not going to tell you, "My ritter grasshoppah, if you do X, you wir find contentment." However, my experience and reading has convinced me that there are some types of situations which our minds interpret as being pleasant and some that create anxiety. Since I know no more than anyone else about what will make you happy I will share what others have said as well. The big This you will have to find yourself, but I think you will have a better chance of finding it after you read this collection of ideas and research. (As a parenthetical aside, today I was notified of losing my job. Thanks to my research and application of this knowledge, I am handling this much better than last time. I have a sense of peace and contentment I have never had in such a circumstance before. So, although I am not jubilant to hear this news nor am I a mind-numbed smiling face saying "Praise the Lord," I have definitely learned something on the subject.)
"David G. Myers and other happiness researchers have clear ideas on what elevates or deflates everyday moods. At the top of the list are our associations with other people: romance, family, friendships, the groups we join, how we compare ourselves with others, whether we judge people -- even encountering a friendly face at the neighborhood store or restaurant." (In Pursuit of Happiness: Social connections. Bob Condor 1998)
The Contentment Series
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Introduction
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Straining the baby from the bath water: Joy true and false, prerequisites to joy
Next essay in the works. Click here to add this page to your favorites folder and return to this site!
© 2005