Every theory about right, about ideal conduct, saintliness and such has a kernel of truths, some foolishness, and some neglected issues.  The best of the general theories is utilitarianism which is built upon a Greek foundation, but it misses love and meditation.  On purer pleasures utilitarianism is like the golden rule:  you figure it out.  In a number of the essays on the utopia website, I have filled in these gaps concerning purer pleasures and the good life.  Utilitarianism by its very formulation entails selflessness, but it never describes the reward from such an approach to life. I am sharing that path and describing its rewards. 

While I don’t like writing in the first person, especially when it makes me appear to be walking on water, in this case the topic is quite personal and my observations are a vehicle for its presentation.  It is the presentation, the resultant good that is the measure, and I do not believe that I can accomplish, with the exactness and conciseness, the same in the 3^rd person.  This work is further developing topics found in The Gospel of Love, however, it stands well alone. 

How to be counted among the truly fortunate[i]

AS a junior at Temple University in Philadelphia, while taking Ethics from Elizabeth Beardsley, I did a term paper on Epicurus.  His maxims on pleasures opened a door for me.  I analyzed pleasures as he proscribed and then sought the purer pleasures and their long-term consequences.  The next semester I studied the Greek philosophers.  I paid special attention to those topics relating to the good life—such as can virtue be taught?   But I was not satisfied with how far they went.  Marriage and the preservation of love were not even addressed.  Personal happiness was to be obtained through a certain lifestyle, studies, and like-minded friends.  But there was nothing on why some people are happier in like circumstances than others, nothing on the effects of anger, nothing on romantic love, and nothing on the meditation upon topics that make me happy.  Later Greeks & Romans (Epictetus & Marcus Aurelius) somewhat filled this gap, but still there was a silence about love.    

Some people, like my father were very happy, while others like my cousin Morris and my mother were very moody.  I developed gradually a vision about how I could become an extraordinarily happy individual.  I have learnt from observing others and trying certain practices.  One practice is verbalizations (both silent and out-loud).  What we think (and say) affects what we become.  I sought to remove over-weaning pride.  One favorite maxim is, to him who little is not enough, nothing will be enough (Cyril Bailey’s translation of Epicurus).  It helped me focus on how empty and corrupting is the pride of possessions and the passion for more possessions.  My rational side in furtherance of this goal analyzes my actions and moods concerning possessions.  I do more than just repeat a phrase, I discuss this topic with others, write about the simple life, visualize living the simple life, and practice living that way.  I am seeking to avoid the impure pleasures and to develop right perspective.

The meditation upon the good is the most important one for the development of right perspective and enduring happiness.  I am a utilitarian, so the good is measured by long happiness, and happiness by the promotion of the good life.  (Good is the greatest happiness for the greatest number.)  I started thinking about and reading about topics related to the good.  In graduate school, I wrote a 90-page paper on utilitarianism.  I analyzed my behavior. I became involved in the anti-war movement, and in radical politics.  Slowly my vision of right character improved. 

There is an inner glow that is founded upon right perspective, selflessness, pleasing contemplation, excellent conditioning, rationality, and supportive socialization.  People that are happier than others have discovered this 6-fold path.  The more traveled the path; the brighter is their glow.  The six-fold path combines to make me much happier than the common person. 

Right perspective is the most essential element.  It is a deep concern for the greater good--and not merely for family, friends and community.  Right perspective is a commitment to promoting the good for them, for society, for the world; this is at the heart of right perspective.  It also involves being a person full of good, loving feelings, and thus eschewing the hostile, angry feelings (a topic thorough developed in the Gospel of Love).  Other elements are honesty, lack of greed, willingness to do things for others, avoidance of the use of negative conditioning and other types of harm.  All these result from right perspective.  I made the self far less important because I sought to promote the good. 

The clearest formulation of right perspective is developed from the utilitarian principle.  The deep abiding desire to promote the good, to make the good a focus of my activities lies at the heart of right perspective.  

Selflessness:  focusing on the good, places my self-interest in the background.  Now I am concerned with the good that results; thus now the concern for my own well-being is measured by improvements in my ability to do good things:  it is not an end in itself.  Employment, investments, even developing a relationship with a woman is measured by how it will further the general good.  Money is sought not for the object I could buy or the places I could travel, but for to secure a quite environment for to write, to possible hire an editor to fix up some of the fiction I wrote about 15 years ago, to promote my websites, to help friends, and to contribute to worthy causes.  I now exercise so that I may both more productive each day and because I set a better example for my beloved, friends, and associates.   Selflessness has another reward; I fret less over problems, such as when the car needs repairs or the future of my business.  I look at the time lost having the car serviced as pulling me away from promoting the good.  I worry less about my future for my primary concern is the good things that I accomplish.  I’ll be happier in a trailer park than an oceanfront home because cheap living entails having more funds available for the promotion of the good and less material distractions.  My Selflessness is sensed by my friends and associates and thus my friendship have turned out to be lifelong, and my associates soon learn to trust and like me.  Selflessness changes the way I see the world and the way the world sees me.  I am not angry over adversity as when Robert lied to me over conditions at work, for I could no more be angry with Robert than I could with the North Wind for being cold upon my back.  Selflessness makes it much easier to eschew angry thoughts. 

In promotion of selflessness, I meditate upon the good.  I constantly ask myself, what would an Angel on earth do in my situation? (I am assuming him to be part animal, part spirit, and part analytic being).  Alternatively, I ask, what would the gods approve of me doing in this situation?  These thoughts guide my actions.  Removing as much as possible the greedy I from my behavior has contributed greatly to my happiness. 

Contemplation of good things gives me many hours of happiness; this lies at the heart of Ataraxia (see The Gospel of Love).  But being a utilitarian, I don’t spend endless hours reminiscing over the good times, or savoring past loves.  Contemplating my beloved, however, helps me to be nicer to her, which brings her happiness.  Her happiness entails a union which allows us to be an inspirational example to others, entails her emotional support, and in general gives me greater determination to pursue the good.  I work on my websites several hours a day, for with over 1,500 pages down loaded per day (April 05); I am promoting the public good and that makes me happy.  There are no adds on my websites.  When driving instead of listening to talk shows interrupted by advertisements, I listen to books on tape mainly biographies, histories, and science related topics.  These both increase my understanding of the world, but also stimulate me to constructive thoughts.  When I listen to music, which is at the gym, I select that which uplifts my spirit.  When I am in a down mood, I select activities, such as going to the gym so that my mood will improve, or I contemplate my beloved.  Often I will stop what I am doing to meditate on good things, so that I may be of right spirit when with others, and so that my activities are done with a positive attitude.  The utilitarian measure of good is satisfied by positive contemplations and being in a good mood.

Exercise is done because I have noticed how much fitness contributes to happiness. And with the exception of Elizabeth Beardsley, my ethics professor, the happiest people are physically fit.  Exercise gives balance to my days.  There are three types I do regularly:  racket ball for diversion and conditioning; weight training for muscle tone, mood elevation through fitness, and increased energy; and a very intense 2-mile run for cardiovascular conditioning and endurance.  Intense running has the greatest rewards, and it takes the least time.  All three bring long-term mood elevation.  After the age of 50, I became affected by endorphins, which helps me to relax.  This makes me more Vigorous, more self-confident, a better lover, and in a better mood.  Physical fitness is a very important piece in the overall pursuit of happiness. 

Rationality is another important piece.  First it allows the intellect to select prudent behavior.  Second it gives me the skill to learn about and write about things we ought to know (visit my website on enlightenment and on health).   Third these allow me to communicate good things to friends and associates.  Rationality permits me to avoid the foolishness found in religion, for example, while picking out their best ideas.  It allows me to understand the nature of the universe and my place in it.  It has allowed me to be free of the common fears. And it has allowed me to develop an understanding of scientific psychology, and thus to be aware of the counterproductive pitfalls that are endemic to relationship, to leisure activities, etc.  Moreover, not only do I see the patterns, but often I can through rational guidance avoid those pitfalls.  Rationality, gained through years of study, including 2 years of graduate school in philosophy, has brought me higher.  As Wittgenstein said (roughly put), it matters little that I can talk about obscure philosophical topics such as analytic a priori or purposive behavior, but rather that I can think deeply about the issues of everyday life.  The Greeks held that it was philosophy (which back then included science) that separated them from the common herd and helped them immensely in the pursuit of the good life. 

Supportive socialization has important consequences that affect attainment of happiness.  What I think is influenced by the people I associate with; by the images (messages) from people though television, movies, written sources; by the type of songs I listen to.  Where I live, where I work, what I work at, and what I take in school all influence what I think of.  So too does the amount of leisure time I have.  Too much work, school studies, recreational activities, family duties, they all combine to leave little time for development of higher consciousness.  I have limits on them so that I can devote more time to promoting the general good and my own higher consciousness.  Personal and spiritual development ought not be neglected.  It is for me a duty; one which I assiduously attend to—and I enjoy so doing.   

     Of all forms of socialization, the contribution of the beloved is of exceptional importance.  A person worthy of love, and who has developed a loving relationship with you, this will result in an incredible unleashing of the loving emotion. To be counted among the truly fortunate, you must be in a loving relationship. 

In 1989 I had obtain for several months a high portion of inner happiness while living alone in Mexico, and I was without a woman.  This radiant glow ended when I started again to live with my former girl friend, a nice person and one who satisfied the need for sexual release and companionship.    My next beloved satisfied the spiritual quest, we had a special union.  But within a couple of years incipient schizophrenia modified her behavior and she, among other things, could not control her temper. 

Now I am indeed fortunate to have found a woman on a similar spiritual path, and we are now developing a loving relationship.  Rather than diminishing my inner happiness, she adds to mine, and I to hers.  The obtainment of the inner glow is greatest when there is a beloved on the same path.    

Happiness and the inner glow, is akin to romantic love.  You have the emotion of love.  This emotion is not simply fixed upon a person of the opposite sex, but extends in a milder way to other things, such as to the love of parents and siblings, to the love of country and community, to the love of pets, and to an attachment for material things.  David Hume pointed out that people enjoy being moral because of an emotion he called fellow feeling.  This is the mild form of the emotion of love.  I feel something for the people around me, and I enjoy doing good things for them.  The more I remove the self (my concern for personal gain) from my actions, the stronger is fellow feeling.  It becomes at times almost as intense as when I do good things for my beloved.  Thus by finding more ways to tap upon the emotion of love, the happier I will be.  Placing the self in the background and seeking to promote in all actions the greater good, this taps upon fellow feeling, taps upon the emotion of love, and it makes me exceptionally happy.  The journey to be among the truly fortunate is a journey upon tapping into the emotion of love. 

The six-fold path coupled with the meditation upon love with a suitable beloved that brings me close to the fabled nirvana.  I have built upon the Greek wisdom of pure pleasures and the good life, added the improvement of utilitarianism which made public service part of the ethics, rather than a thing separate.  From this foundation the six other pieces in promotion of happiness quite naturally follow.  I thank the gods frequently for the focus and insights that has both given me so much joy and made the good a focus of my activities.