Are We Born to Be Happy or Born to Be Miserable?

People often struggle with bad, sad, uncomfortable feelings which they identify as the opposite of happiness. Many believe that having these feelings identifies them as having some internal flaw. They believe that there is something inherently wrong with them if they are not happy. What they don't understand is that there are three different worldviews on happiness.


FIRST WORLD VIEW: This is the religious one, which most of the major religions support.  The Judeo-Christian story of creation posits an initial state of perfection that was all good; there was no pain and no evil. But Adam and Eve eating the apple, bit into knowledge and  destroyed that idyllic world. Thus, the we started out living in a world free from suffering but our actions created the current world of pain. Other religions similarly argue that the world  was once pure, but now is impure and base, having moved away from the initial state of perfection.


SECOND WORLD VIEW: The second view is the popular view expressed by our culture That  view states that happiness is the normal resting state of individuals and that if we are not feeling happy, there is something wrong with us. Therefore, this popular view of happiness propels us to constantly identify moments of unhappiness and attempt to change those moments to ones of  happiness. When we are unable to do that, we believe that we are in some way flawed and imperfect.


THIRD WORLD VIEW: . The third world view of happiness comes from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT therapy) and from Buddhist philosophy.  This view ACCEPTS  that the normal, resting state of humans is pain and suffering. The philosophy of Buddhism, from which this idea originates, asserts that there are 4 Noble Truths. The first Noble Truth is that life is suffering or dissatisfaction. This is a reversal of the first worldview that states that we start out pure and become impure; Buddhism posits that we are born into this world with gross imperfections and major illusions and it is up to us to break out of the illusion and see the world as it really  is --and thus find inner peace and contentment. ACT therapy is in line with this view, believing the following: natural selection has selected for a great many illusions about the world;  natural selection has selected for certain cognitive biases that interfere with an accurate perception of the world; and that being caught up in constantly judging the world (and ourselves) to be right/wrong, good/bad creates a constant state of tension. ACT therapy presents us with tools and strategies that are able to break through the illusions of our mind and see the world as it really is.

Depending on your worldview, you will choose different actions and make different decisions as you go through life, searching for happiness and inner peace.

Happiness and the FIRST WORLD VIEW: If you believe this view, then your life will be dedicated to becoming as pure and as good as you once were. You will identify many of your thoughts and feelings as being evil and caused by the first sin committed by Adam and Eve. These thoughts and feelings will be seen as dangerous and you will try to contain them, control them, or annihilate them. If you are able to control these evil thoughts and feelings, then you will get closer to that initial state of perfection, which will lead to being happy.

Happiness and the SECOND WORLD VIEW: If you believe this perspective, then any time that you have any negative feelings, that you are feeling blue, out of sorts, dissatisfied, struggling around some issue or other, you will identify yourself as being flawed and in some way wrong to be going through these feelings. You will put great effort to change these negative feelings of discomfort into positive ones. You will create an internal battle with yourself trying to forcibly change the unpleasant into pleasant. Negative emotions are seen as a sign of individual failure and error.

Happiness and the THIRD WORLD VIEW: Believe this worldview and you will accept that moments of displeasure, distress, unhappiness, and struggle are part of the human condition. The work then becomes to change not the feelings, but how you relate to those feelings. This is the critical difference. If we accept those feelings as being part of life, then we are not flawed or imperfect, we are simply experiencing what humans have been naturally selected to experience. ACT THERAPY  offers us a way to relate differently to our thoughts and feelings. The tools and strategies of ACT THERAPY, many of which are similar to Buddhist philosophy, can help us break some of the illusions about the world and in so doing, help us  live with greater contentment and inner peace.