Most of us are forever in search of happiness. You may find happiness in fine food, I might find it in books, another person may find it in listening to music. Every person living on this planet finds happiness in various activities which they tend to do, to make their living a pleasant one. But we search for the Holy Grail of happiness all our lives. Now, it seems happiness can be taught in schools and colleges as a subject to children as of how to remain happy or how to indulge in happiness. An intriguing prospect as we look for a little emotion sunshine within ourselves in these, sultry days.
There are many questions that are related to happiness like: does money bring happiness, does happiness have a favorite sex, does happiness vary by culture? I wonder could happiness be taught to students?
The penny seems to have dropped for the western world - money cannot buy you happiness. In fact studies show that beyond a certain point, money undermines happiness. This conclusion based on scientific rigor - not faith - is an important setback to the conventional model of western life. After decades of going along with a line "Our best chance for happiness is education", education has been unable to deliver on the ultimate unsaid deliverable that every student wants - to be happy. Hence the rational western mind, in an effort to fill this gap, has now started teaching happiness in schools and colleges. And surprisingly children are also taking full interest in this topic of their activities that they do in schools and colleges. Everyday many students are getting themselves enrolled to this coarse. Surprisingly many universities are also providing Masters in happiness.
Which brings us to a question - do students, at such a young age, need to be distracted by this esoteric idea of being taught happiness? Typically, a student, at the end of his/her education journey, wants a qualification that he/she hopes will make his/her more prosperous than before she started his/her journey. Thus, when a student is primarily being taught how to how to be successful, happiness lecture can be distracting at best and conflicting at worst.
And this pattern still remains till the first few years of one's working life. Will the CEO's of MNC be thinking of happiness before breaking the million-dollar barrier, I don't think so, because at that point of time, the main thing in their mind will be money, nothing else.
Except that the fast-paced student life in a temple of academic excellence is not the best time to reflect on these above said various questions. However, we may consider whether classroom settings in such environs are the best place to reflect on these questions.
The main concern is that we cannot ask ourselves that we are happy or not. We cannot reach the elusive goal of happiness by the direct route of consciously searching for it. The secret lies in taking an elliptical path. A path that lies in being fully engaged and absorbed in one's daily actions, including those related to becoming prosperous. A path towards an individual can be subtly prodded by a master who himself has negotiated it. Happiness will ensue instead of being pursued.
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