Serialised book (with a progressively updated >>dashboard/ToC<< page). Part II: Philosophy of the Life Instinct

Book: Philosophy of Life Instinct: Chapter 25: Happiness

How can we get it, give it, and keep it?

Happiness is the El Dorado of our emotions. We all want to be happy, but what is happiness, and how do we get it? An entire book or this chapter is unlikely to grasp this world of a million facets completely, but let’s make a reasonable attempt, for if there is anything worth our while, this is it. This chapter could evolve constantly, and I am not sure I’ll ever be satisfied with it, but the broad view of happiness from the context of the Life Instinct (Chapter 4) is here.

We will explore what happiness is, its purpose, how it works in our brain, whether happiness is essential, individual versus social happiness, speciesism and happiness, factors that affect it, the wrong turns happiness can take, whether we can measure happiness and how we can make ourselves and others happy.

What is happiness, and why does it exist?

Happiness is a state of mind characterised by the presence of positive emotions such as contentment, well-being, safety, love, pride, excitement, pleasure, joy, etc., and the absence of negative emotions like anxiety, fear, anger, pain, regret, boredom, envy, guilt, and so on.

In Chapter 4, we saw that the Life Instinct drives us towards the conditions for our survival, well-being and reproduction. Reaching such a state is an achievement every time, and knowing that is part of our mental feedback loop. To be happy is this recognition and communication. It is an additional emotional layer on top of the direct, action-oriented emotions.

Which life forms have the happiness trait?

We know that less intelligent life forms possess the same foundations of the Life Instinct as we do and achieve well-being without using the apparent state we call happiness. Viruses, bacteria, fungi, corals, etc., reach states of contentment, and their mechanical processes recognise they can pause in their striving. We could, from our awareness of them as life-forms, say they have reached a happy state. But they do not exhibit any distinctive signs of knowing it themselves. They do not have an awareness of themselves as separate and whole beings. Instead, they operate based on internal physio-chemical states interacting with the environment, driven by the autonomous urges of the Life Instinct.

So, happiness is not essential for life, as a distinct and separate emotion from basic ones like satiation, safety, sexual pleasure, etc. But it exists in humans and is evident in other animals such as penguins, dolphins, dogs, cats, chimpanzees, macaques, elephants, and perhaps several more if we investigate them further.

What is common to these animals that exhibit the emotion of happiness? Sociability is a common trait, but several social insects and animals do not show apparent joy, e.g., ants, bees, eagles, hyenas, lions, etc. So sociability cannot be the only criterion, and it cannot be intelligence either as it varies significantly between them. We still don’t know why only a few animals distinctly possess happiness.

At least we can be sure that happiness is a state of mind as we define it, and therefore exists only in life forms with brains and emotional states. Although we often project anthropomorphically, e.g., we say that healthy plants are happy, we realise that it is only our way of saying they display all the signs of being in a positive state of life, while knowing they don’t have a mind that represents that overall state for themselves.

How happiness works for us

In Chapter 12 on emotions, we saw that they are mental states to drive or reward our individual and social activities. So is happiness, but with two additional characteristics — it can drive different things at different points in our timeline, and it has the broadest range in what it rewards, from a single achievement to various complex combinations.

Once we get the feeling of happiness, whether small or large, our brain sends a strong message to itself that this is a good condition for our continued existence, health or reproduction, based on the circumstances. Naturally, it tries to maintain this pleasurable state of affairs as long as it can.

In trying to stay happy, we try to maintain the conditions that should exist and prevent those that shouldn’t. Given the complexity of human life and our mind, it is not easy. But having been rewarded by dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins in our brain, we want to keep to it. Something or the other comes along to disturb it eventually. So we try to do the same things we did before and go back to the same circumstances. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But it is worth the effort, for there is no surer sign that we are serving the Life Instinct well than being happy. Happiness is the best of all emotions to attain and retain.

Happiness serves four purposes:

1. The anticipation, memory and idea of happiness set goals for us.
2. Happiness rewards us and motivates us to keep going.
3. Happiness makes us healthier.
4. Happiness increases social bonds and cooperation.

Happiness in our brain

Happiness and allied feelings such as pleasure, joy, delight, euphoria, ecstasy, glee, elation, jubilation, etc., are states of activation of the internal reward systems of our brain. We examined in Chapter 13 on emotional wisdom how Dopamine (released in anticipation of a reward), Oxytocin (released during good social interactions), Serotonin (the primary regulators of mood) and Endorphins (that suppress pain) are the neurotransmitters involved in the pleasure system. It happens in the limbic region comprising the limbic cortex, hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus.

The pictures below show the regions of the brain involved and the neurotransmitter flow pathways involved in happiness.

Recent studies show that a part of the brain called the right precuneus is larger and more active in happier people. Fortunately, it is not genetic, and we can develop it through the practices we explore in the last section. The picture below shows the location of the precuneus in the mid-posterior outer region of the cerebral cortex.

(Please see Chapter 9, ‘The Power of Our Intellect’ and the bibliography for further information.)

Is happiness essential?

As we saw above, plants and most life forms we know do not show apparent signs of happiness. We also observe that we are often flat in mood or unhappy and still function quite normally. We all know at least a few people who lead almost entirely sad lives, but the lack of joy does not curtail their life span appreciably.

So, the Life Instinct uses happiness as a motivator and encouragement to make the best of our lives, but it is sanguine if we don’t have it as long as we live and reproduce. Its motto appears to be “first live, and you can fight for happiness in another day (or generation)”.

In effect, happiness is excellent and certainly something we must aim for, but it is not essential for life.

Individual and social happiness

Individual happiness

As individuals, we experience the simple pleasures of eating, slaking our thirst, exercising and sleeping. But these are rudimentary, and our minds have evolved to deal with much more, and we are not satisfied with just these. The pleasures of basic survival pall quickly, and we start becoming unhappy.

When a mate enters the picture, our happiness bounds upwards. When children enter the picture, there is excellent uplift again. And if we have a good circle of friends and satisfying work, it is two more steps up the happiness ladder. These advances of the quality or depth of our joy may happen in a different sequence, but what is common to them is that they involve others. So, for a fulsomely happy life, we need others.

So we have a view from the inside out of the world of happiness accessible to us inwardly. But what adds icing to the cake of our joy is the happiness we give others. We may do this just by partaking in normal and inherently selfish human relationships. But the Life Instinct rewards us more handsomely, both mentally and materially, if we make others happy consciously and regularly. It may seem altruistic, and it is, but it also isn’t. In its net effect, intentionally making others happy is a win for everyone and must not be opposed by ideological principles. Love is perhaps the best example of this, for when it is true, it gives as much or more happiness than it gets.

Shared or social happiness

When an entire audience laughs at a joke while watching a movie in a dark theatre, it is different from the laughter of a single audience member. When a country rejoices at winning a soccer match, it is a distinct joy from the private. The happiness of friends together is a special feeling and emotion. All this is because we are a social species, and our minds and lives are connected.

So personal and community happiness are both vital. Here are some examples where the contentment of society overrides that of the individual.

• Our friends want to see a particular movie, and we go along for the group’s happiness even if we don’t like the genre.
• We need industries for general well-being, but some of us are against them due to their impact on the environment and are happy with simpler lives.
• War is necessary for the survival of a people or country, but some of us are pacifists.

No human is an island, and the Life Instinct makes us unselfish enough to want to be happy together with others, even if ultimately it benefits us individually.

Speciesism and happiness

Personal happiness is not an island in the sea of human joy, and human happiness is not an island in the ocean of natural well-being.

We have thought we are a special species, with the right to exploit everything we know and encounter. Now, early in the twenty-first century, we know that our happiness depends on a healthy and balanced biosphere, and we are a lot less intelligent than we credit ourselves.

Whether it is large-scale exploitation of forests, marine life, terrestrial wildlife or factory farming of animals, we have made all the other life we depend on quite miserable for hundreds of years now or murdered them. We cannot be happy like this, as we are fast finding out.

Time scales of happiness

Happiness can be a complete yet fleeting moment in time, overlaid on minor irritants and upsets, or even major life problems. If we look back and say we had a happy day, year or life, we do not mean there were no occasions of sadness, anxiety or pain in that time. We suggest that it was positive for our life and health on the whole, with enough joy and pleasure to be called a happy period.

A happy life is the accumulation of happy moments, days, months and years. We will observe our happiness in three timeframes:

Short-term happiness

Eating something delicious, winning a game, finding something we had lost, looking at old family pictures, sex, an outing with friends, a day at the beach, and myriad such activities make us happy. These states can last from minutes to days. It is up to us to ensure short-term pleasure does not work against our long-term happiness.

Medium-term happiness

Getting a promotion, moving to a better place, having a child, taking up a hobby, making new friends and similar life changes provide us with months or years of happiness.

Life-long happiness

Working for years on an invention, loving and dedicating ourselves to someone or something, creating and growing a business, being involved in music, singing or art, enjoying writing or fine cooking, working for the environment or the disadvantaged, such pursuits give us long-lasting happiness. There are many roads to joy, but the big two that undoubtedly lead to it are — love and purpose — the outwardly directed kind. They make us immune to the pricks of daily life and give us grace.

Factors of happiness

Five situations need to be positive for us to be happy. Conversely, if they are not okay, we are either emotionally flat or unhappy.

1. Material conditions

Having enough to eat, water, shelter, power, clothing, safety, and a clean environment is essential for our fundamental happiness.

2. Family situation

Both young and adult humans need functional families for happiness. It is necessary for survival and growth for children, and for adults, it is necessary to fulfil the urge for reproduction. Having a loving and supportive family life is crucial for happiness.

3. Social situation

Humans are social, and we need a community of either extended family, friends or colleagues for our happiness. It depends on our emotional wisdom and provides belonging, identity, empathy, kindness, cooperation, forgiveness, toleration, understanding, etc.

4. Physical condition

A healthy body is vital to happiness. It is challenging to be happy if we are overweight, weak, lack stamina, injured or chronically sick.

5. Mental condition

As happiness is a mental state, being happy in mind is the mandatory condition for happiness. Emotional strength is the most significant contributor to our happiness. Depending on our mental makeup, we can be joyful even if we fall short in one or more of the preceding four areas or miserable even if they are fine. Internal factors that affect our mental happiness are our sense of freedom, equality, purpose, meaning, openness, respect, trust, self-worth, patience, love, and gratitude.

When happiness takes a wrong turn

Happiness is powerful but highly subjective, and it often creates unhappiness. This effect can be private or ripple out through society, near and far, depending on our circle of influence. We will not look at garden variety unhappiness here but rather at its excesses, which come in the following flavours.

Ruining ourselves for happiness

We confuse pleasure for happiness. Some of the usual traps we fall into when we seek momentary or short-lived sensory satisfaction are — we overeat and get obese, have too much sugar and become diabetic and ruin our teeth, drink too much and weaken our brain and liver, smoke for nicotine hits and get cancer or blocked lungs, take drugs for highs and end up miserable in many ways, get ruinously addicted to gambling, pornography, sex, and so on.

Making others miserable for our happiness

Some of the things we do just for pleasure affect our health and our families, friends, and employers. But this is nothing compared to the misery caused to millions of people by leaders such as Atilla, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Mugabe and many other sociopaths.

There is no doubt they enjoyed what they did and felt happiness each time they achieved one more terrible goal. Atilla the Hun probably felt happy marauding through Europe and Asia. Hitler is very likely to have been delighted when he temporarily reached Lebensraum and progressed towards his ‘final solution’. They may have thought they were making their people happy, but they contributed in considerable measure to the misery of our species.

Individuals make others unhappy, but so do social groups, as they possess something we can call a ‘collective mind’. As humans are a very sociable species, we form communities based on shared race, religion, language, region, etc., bonded by shared beliefs of what is right and good for the happiness of its members. For collective happiness, communities are willing to discriminate against individuals who do not belong and other communities. It does not always need a leader to cause pain to others based on such communal aims. For example, we derive mental pleasures of belonging and identity by publicly showing our hatred for immigrants or supporters of the opposing soccer team. Generating unhappiness in the ‘others' is a vital component of the emotional reward.

Are these combinations of personal and limited happiness with immense misery beneficial for the species in any way? Are they part of the Life Instinct to make Homo sapiens stronger and increase our fitness for survival? A simple fact negates this emphatically — the vast majority of the species hates anyone causing widespread unhappiness, and we have reduced it tremendously by working together.

The looming unhappiness from environmental ruin

In chapters 23 and 24, we looked at the moral and ethical wrong turns we have taken due to our species’ hubris. We need not elaborate here the problems we have created for ourselves by causing an increase in atmospheric temperature, polluting the oceans, air, land and water, and destroying a large part of Earth’s ecosystems. It is the biggest threat to our happiness, and it has already begun to spread misery in many parts of the world due to the droughts, floods, storms, inundation by rising sea levels, famine, displacement of millions, war, and a host of other disasters it is causing.

Happiness that does not consider the well-being of the entire planet will fatally and finally disprove our intelligence.

Untenable personal and public philosophies

Two thousand years ago, the human population was small enough (~200 million) for personal philosophies conceptualised in Greece and Rome to work. Two examples are Epicureanism (the belief that we should minimise pain and maximise pleasure in our lives) and Hedonism (pursuit of sensual and short-lived pleasures, with a willingness to do anything for it). But they become destructive when several billion humans practice them.

Extreme forms of social philosophies such as capitalism and marxism have proven antithetical to inclusive and sustainable happiness. Authoritarian governments have caused extensive physical and emotional pain over the centuries, and presidential forms of democracy have sometimes been anarchic and created deep social tensions.

Over time we have moved towards a balance of parliamentary democracy, free markets and social safety nets as the best system for maximising happiness worldwide. We explored this in Chapter 20, on government.

Can we measure happiness?

Let us turn to an important question: can we objectively measure happiness? The reason for this question is simple — we have evolved to try and control everything we can, and the ability to know the extent of something is integral to its control.

(At the time of writing, Bhutan is a country that attempts to measure and control its “Gross National Happiness” index instead of the usual measure of Gross Domestic Product. It is a noble endeavour worth refining and emulating.)

The subjectivity and relativity of happiness

Birds are happy, kangaroos are happy, villagers are happy, urban professionals are happy. We are no one to say anyone’s happiness is not authentic or satisfying for them.

So the difficulty is that among all the emotions, happiness is the most varied and complex. Asking ourselves the following questions will illustrate the tremendous challenge in its various dimensions and extents:

• Is the happiness of individuals comparable? Does happiness feel the same to each of us? In terms of intensity, can we ever claim to be exactly as happy as another person?
• Can something that makes one person happy leave someone else unaffected or even unhappy?
• How does our pleasure affect our circle, society and other life forms?
• Is achieving happiness always good for the individual, the group, the species and the environment?
• Can we ever say exactly which combination of external and internal conditions caused us to be a little or very happy?
• How does our idea of happiness change during our life?
• How do we compare happiness between species, e.g., the joy of insects versus fish versus animals versus humans?
• Within a species, e.g., humans, are there higher and lower grades of happiness?

Trying to answer these questions shows us that there are probably as many states of happiness as species on the planet, multiplied by thousands of variations over their lives.

Yet, we are seeking to classify and measure happiness. Is this futile? No, because the Life Instinct gives us the urge to understand, analyse, organise, compare and control everything about ourselves and what affects us. We cannot ignore this fundamental trait.

Technique and examples

There are likely infinite states of happiness. As we saw in the section above on individual versus social and natural joy, collective happiness exists and is vital for life. How will we cater for all this in our measurement system?

To grapple with it, we will adopt these guidelines:

1. We will aim to measure the happiness created or destroyed by human activities rather than absolute happiness as that does not make sense.
2. We will always measure the holistic happiness created or destroyed, i.e., in all life affected by an activity.
3. We will cover both individual and collective actions.
4. We will assume all life forms have a right to happiness or well-being but will measure the overall happiness impact with humans as the reference point. It will not disadvantage other life forms as we are assuming our joy depends on theirs. For the unit of happiness, we will propose the Life Happiness Unit (LHU), defined as the happiness of one standard human with a 100% score on all happiness parameters. We will normalise the happiness and well-being of other life forms to LHUs by considering their total mass per human before scoring their relevant happiness or well-being parameters.
5. We will cover the happiness impact in three broad types — individual, social, and natural. The social will include family, friends, colleagues, and the public at large. The natural will comprise animals and lower life forms.
6. For humans, we will rely only upon personal declarations of the type and extent of happiness and not assess it externally.
7. For animals, we will estimate from external indicators how they are happy and how much.
8. For plants and simpler life forms, we will estimate well-being rather than happiness from external indicators.
9. Even a rough estimate of the happiness created or destroyed is better than none.

We will consider the main types of happiness and assign them weights, and a scale of intensity, from -10 to 10. If an action causes death or permanent agony, it will score -10, and if it causes long-term happiness, it will score 10.

For the impact on animals, plants, insects, etc., we will divide their total global mass (measured in Gigatons of Carbon equivalent, abbreviated to Gt C) by the human population to see how much each of us is responsible for. To illustrate, the total mass of plants on the planet is 450 Gt C, so we get about 60 tons per human. Similarly, animals comprise about 1 Gt C, and each of us can affect at least 130 kg of them in the wild, indirectly or directly. We will give these life forms' happiness or well-being parameters the same total weight as for humans.

Here is a screengrab of the template to evaluate the holistic happiness impact of the action: Buy a car. It has a net negative happiness score of about -100,000 HULs.

The second is an example of collective action: Build a dam that will inundate 40,000 hectares of forest. It is about a hundred times worse in terms of the net happiness destroyed for all life.

(The filled-in spreadsheets are available for download and study here. Reuse is acceptable, with attribution.)

The method is unlikely to be satisfactory in its initial form and will need refinement until it becomes widely reliable. Several such attempts have been made for happiness estimation by others. Our method is comprehensive as it considers all three vital dimensions — human happiness, the entire interdependent world, and the time aspect.

(Please see this article and the bibliography for related material.)

Applicability

Whichever evaluation method we use, we cannot do this for everyday life and the tens of thousands of decisions we make over our lifetime. It will bring us to a standstill. But we can use it for the most far-reaching decisions in life — for example, the work we do, how we live, what we eat, consume, etc.

We should also imagine and acknowledge that our minds are naturally using a heuristic with the same intent and broad method. Indicators of this are — that most of us think about the happiness of our circle of people, are increasingly banning animal testing and products, adopting veganism and vegetarianism, trying to preserve forests, etc.

But humanity is never satisfied with its older instinctive capabilities and continuously develops intellectually designed systems such as government, religion, education, marriage, industry, economics, etc. Hence, if we desire to manage our happiness rationally, objectively and systematically, we should see where it takes us. If we do it with broad inclusivity and wisdom, it can be benign at worst wonderful at best.

How can we be happy and increase others’ happiness?

To be constantly happy may be impossible for our minds. It may be too complex and active to remain in one state for long. It could be due to the need of the Life Instinct to constantly seek improvement of the conditions and supplies of life, however much we may have already attained. Staying happy in only one way may cause a stasis in our minds that potentially puts us at risk from an evolutionary perspective. So the mind looks actively for problems to solve and moves away from contentment. If external factors are okay, and the mind is healthy, it soon finds happiness again. This movement away and back repeats even in the most successful and contended among us.

In this way, happiness is alternately a signal for the mind to move and a goal. Understanding this allows us a measure of control over it, which becomes our duty and responsibility, as we possess the urge to improve and the necessary intelligence and Free Will (Chapter 6).

Why holistic happiness is crucial

Contrary to what the daily news may project, we are probably a lot happier on the whole than people just a few generations ago. Take, for example, the industrial revolution, commercial farming, fossil fuels and consumerism. They have undoubtedly made living conditions better for most of humanity and we are thriving in terms of numbers and material comforts. No doubt we are happier in many material ways than we were a century or two ago. We also give ourselves thousands of dopamine hits every day from the social media we are addicted to. It adds low quality but high quantity pleasure to our daily lives.

But it may be a short summer, given the depredations inflicted by us on the environment and ecosystems of our planet. We will probably end up dropping to a much lower level of happiness in the future unless we pull back and change ourselves significantly.

It is our individual and collective responsibility to define happiness broadly, inclusively and for the long term. Any method or system that does not is intrinsically flawed. We will not make this mistake in our philosophy.

The Attain and Retain Cycle of Happiness (ARCH)

Having a way to measure the impact of our actions is good, but we need a practical and organic path to happiness.

Happiness is attainable through effort, like other facilities of life. Here is a 5-step method we can apply personally and proactively. We can use it when we are unhappy, feel dull, or want to maintain our joy. We consider this as primary, being more in our control than external macroscopic factors.

Five steps to happiness

1. Examine our mind — When we feel like it or at regular intervals in life, we will check if our mind— [a] Is unhappy [b] Has attained Happiness [c] Is flat and seeking happiness.
2. Identify the type and time frame— We will then work out [a] Why we are unhappy and is it temporary or lasting [b] Why we are happy and how long it will last [c] Which happiness we are seeking (e.g., money, mate, recognition, revenge, etc.) and is it for the short, middle or long term.
3. Analyse the reasons — We will apply our wisdom to honesty understand [a] Is there a good reason for our unhappiness or is it baseless or unimportant, especially with time [b] Are we happy for the right reasons, and are they good holistically? [c] Is the source of happiness we aim for right and holistically good, or should we change the goal?
4. Plan and execute — We will decide and carry out the actions to [a] Stop being unhappy [b] Maintain our happiness [c] Achieve good types of happiness.
5. Learn from the holistic effect — We will get it wrong as often as right, but learn about ourselves, our impact on the world, and techniques to achieve wide happiness. We will improve and create more joy with every cycle.

The technique is easy to conceptualise but difficult to implement. Otherwise, happiness would be a lot more common. Steps 1, 2 and 3 are highly challenging as we need control over our minds for them.

Happiness is in making good choices. Some of the techniques we can use to be masters of ourselves are below. (We also examined them in a related context in Chapter 13 on Emotional Wisdom, Chapter 23 on Morality and Chapter 24 on Ethics.)

Five keys to happiness

• Self-actualisation — Chapter 23 on morality had a brief look at the value of self-actualisation. It is necessary for deep and long-term happiness. Without understanding ourselves and realising our full potential, we will base our joy on weak or faulty foundations. Self-actualisation is the term used for the process by which we reach our best selves. If we are self-actualised, we possess these ten attributes: 1. We accept ourselves and others 2. We are realistic 3. We are curious and observant 4. We have a strong sense of morals and responsibility 5. We are purposeful and autonomous 6. We enjoy solitude and privacy 7. We have a thoughtful sense of humour 8. We are spontaneous in doing good things 9. We enjoy the journey, and 10. We have moments of transcendence and flow. (Please see the bibliography for more guidance.)
• Emotional Wisdom —In Chapter 13, we developed the concept of Emotional Wisdom as something more potent than Emotional Intelligence. We cannot be happy without healthy connections to other humans. It is the essence of Emotional Wisdom. One of the best paths to happiness is to enjoy the happiness of others and make them happy, without any inhibition, as long as they are for the right reasons. The reader should revisit Chapter 13 to equip well for the journey to more expansive happiness. Some of these critical skills for others and ourselves are — 1. We are mindful and self-aware 2. We listen genuinely 3. We practise empathy 4. We are tolerant 5. We have humility 6. We forgive 7. We take time to think before reacting 8. We are emotionally brave 9. We have gratitude 10. We love and respect 11. We have detachment 12. We understand Life-Instinct-driven behaviour.
• Healthy living — A happy mind needs a healthy body. There is a natural joy that comes with vigorous physical activity. Regular exercise regularly rewards us immediately by elevating our mood and keeping us fit to enjoy life in the long term. Healthy eating is also crucial. And good body form attracts others for mutual delight. To keep our physical parameters normal, we avoid drugs, hospitalisation, cancer, and many other long-drawn problems and distress to our near and dear people. It is vital for our peace of mind. Healthy living includes an active brain which we can keep healthy through reading, journaling, talking to people, working on something we like, playing games, etc.
• Social responsibility — Taking an interest in the well-being of our community, country and the world is immensely rewarding. It is our responsibility to others and ourselves due to the happiness that it can give us.
• Natural responsibility — If we turn a blind eye to our impact on nature, we contribute to sorrow for ourselves and all life on the planet. An active personal role in reducing energy use, recycling, reducing consumption of manufactured goods, avoiding wastage and pollution, and working to protect and restore nature, is crucial to our happiness.

External macroscopic factors

We have considered in earlier chapters how socio-economic systems play a crucial role in our well-being and happiness and ways to make them better. Please see, in particular, the chapters on marriage and family, learning and education, work and ambition, and government. We need to play our part in constantly improving them for our private and public contentment.

Conclusions

Life is meaningless, but there is no reason it should be miserable. So making it more joyful for everyone is a worthy aim. If we do more things right by the Life Instinct, we will be happier. And if we are happy, we will do more things right by the Life Instinct.

But we cannot be shortsighted about the means and timelines. Instead, we need to view happiness over generations, across hundreds of years, and the entire world, to do justice to this ultimate emotion of life.

So let’s grow, think of others, be fit, and socially and naturally responsible. Happiness will enter our essence, and we’ll diffuse its fragrance wide.

© 2020 Shashidhar Sastry. All rights reserved.

(As each chapter of the book is published, its link is updated in the ToC below.)

Table of Contents

Part I Metaphysics of The Life Instinct

Part II Philosophy of The Life Instinct

Part III The Life Instinct and The Future

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