The conquest of happiness according to Bertrand Russell
March 26th 2008 10:31
:
When the cup is half empty too many times
'The wise man thinks about his troubles only when there is some purpose in doing so; at other times he thinks about other things, or, if it is night, about nothing at all.'
'It is amazing how much both happiness and efficiency can be increased by the cultivation of an orderly mind, which thinks about a matter adequately at the right time rather than inadequately at all times.'
Source: Bertrand Russell - 'The Conquest of Happiness'
The two quotes above are from chapter 5 in Russell's book, called 'Fatigue'. If you suffer from fatigue too much, mainly because you think about your (largely) imaginary problems too many times and especially at the wrong moments (in the middle of the night), this book, written in 1930, was a precursor to the popular self-help books of the 90s and it beats that junk on every front.
It is incredible how clear and effective this Nobel laureate (literature) describes the things that make people unhappy, followed by a range of things that make us happy. I know what I am talking about, as the above quotes reflect my own life at too many stages. Russell has changed a lot and in a very good sense. It starts in the first chapter with the simple but very effective notion that the enjoyment of life is (amongst other things) due to 'a diminishing preoccupation with myself.' This is followed by Russell's notions on mankind's foolish focus on envy, competition, sin and many more things.
If your cup is always half empty (like mine has been so many times), reading this book makes it half full. Russell doesn't need flowery language; everything is precise, clear, stimulating and - above all - very effective.
I could say much more about this book, but it is much better to get a copy yourself. Let me finish with another quote, this one from the chapter 'The sense of sin':
'No man need fear that by making himself rational he will make his life dull. On the contrary, since rationality consists in the main of internal harmony, the man who achieves it is freer in his contemplation of the world and in the use of his energies to achieve external purposes than is the man who is perpetually hampered by inward conflicts. Nothing is so dull as to be encased in self, nothing so exhilarating as to have attention and energy directed outwards.'
'It is amazing how much both happiness and efficiency can be increased by the cultivation of an orderly mind, which thinks about a matter adequately at the right time rather than inadequately at all times.'
Source: Bertrand Russell - 'The Conquest of Happiness'
The two quotes above are from chapter 5 in Russell's book, called 'Fatigue'. If you suffer from fatigue too much, mainly because you think about your (largely) imaginary problems too many times and especially at the wrong moments (in the middle of the night), this book, written in 1930, was a precursor to the popular self-help books of the 90s and it beats that junk on every front.
It is incredible how clear and effective this Nobel laureate (literature) describes the things that make people unhappy, followed by a range of things that make us happy. I know what I am talking about, as the above quotes reflect my own life at too many stages. Russell has changed a lot and in a very good sense. It starts in the first chapter with the simple but very effective notion that the enjoyment of life is (amongst other things) due to 'a diminishing preoccupation with myself.' This is followed by Russell's notions on mankind's foolish focus on envy, competition, sin and many more things.
If your cup is always half empty (like mine has been so many times), reading this book makes it half full. Russell doesn't need flowery language; everything is precise, clear, stimulating and - above all - very effective.
I could say much more about this book, but it is much better to get a copy yourself. Let me finish with another quote, this one from the chapter 'The sense of sin':
'No man need fear that by making himself rational he will make his life dull. On the contrary, since rationality consists in the main of internal harmony, the man who achieves it is freer in his contemplation of the world and in the use of his energies to achieve external purposes than is the man who is perpetually hampered by inward conflicts. Nothing is so dull as to be encased in self, nothing so exhilarating as to have attention and energy directed outwards.'
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