To Be or Not To Be

A little kingdom I possess,
Where thoughts and feelings dwell;
And very hard the task I find
Of governing it well.
~ Louisa May Alcott

...that more or less describes my situation!

~A Wise Man Said~

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
~ Aristotle
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
 
I was having a conversation recently in a research context where I remarked that one cannot be poor and happy. I received immediate objections to this statement because people felt it was an extreme generalisation. I qualified my statement saying that almost all of us live in a capitalist world today, and in such a world at least one cannot be both poor and happy, as this world is not designed for both these conditions to be true at the same time.

I believe that having a lot of money may not make you happy but not having enough to make the choices that you would make without any financial constraints imposes on you a life that is not one of your own choosing and it seems to me that it is impossible to be happy living a life that is thrust upon you rather than one that you choose. The things that make one happy be it art or leisure or knowledge or whatever require money to pursue, and when I say money I also mean time because for those without idle money lying in the bank, time is equivalent to money. In an 8-hour workday you cannot work 24 hours so even if the museum is free to go to, you cannot really spend your time nonchalantly in activities that bring no money because unfortunately you cannot eat art or survive by walking in the beautiful woods even if they are food for the soul. The body needs nourishment as much as the soul and if you have money to take care of the needs of the body only then are you free to focus on the delights of the soul. Else, you're busy simply fending for bodily needs and I’m not sure by what measure this kind of a life that is all about plain existence could be called a happy one… at least from my subjective perspective.
I would grant though that those who have a great inner urge or drive to fulfil their potential are not constrained by material limitations because the urge is too strong... this is not to say though that they are specimens of the poor and happy kind because that would have to mean that they accept the conditions and impositions that a poor life has placed on them... it is more that they do not let their poverty have a final say in the life that they would lead… in this sense their happiness depends on rising above the conditions of poverty… reaching for the joys of the soul in spite of the hardships of the body.

posted by Sylvia D'souza at 6:54 am 0 comments
HOME