Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
(page 12)
How do we as individuals achieve our own idea of happiness?
Answers:
1. Define Happiness
2. We need to understand that there are two ways to achieve happiness.
a. The first method is most common. It is called Primal Happiness (destructive, temporary, primal satisfaction of escalating addictions).
Destructive Primal Behavior is the method used when a person tries to attain Primal Happiness.
Destructive Primal Behaviors include but are not limited to:
Instincts
Neural
Emotion
Belief
Relationships
Addictions
There is a very long list, an entire database of Destructive Primal Behaviors. I will share these with you later. For now just consider these as Destructive Primal Behaviors and that they are a few of the motivations or methods used when a person tries to attain Primal Happiness.
For example, a person wants to improve his social ranking. This is his motive. His opportunity is Free Market Capitalism, a System of Civilization. He is a banker. His method for gaining social ranking is to use a dominance based relationship with predatory techniques. After years of doing this he is addicted to fighting to reach the top of the social ranking ladder. He is also addicted to capitalism, dominant relationships, and predatory relationships.
The question is will he achieve Primal Happiness. Yes for very brief periods. But because these are escalating addictions he must always seek a slightly more intense high. He must keep climbing the social ladder, enough is never enough. He must find ways to manipulate capitalism to keep winning. He must hone and improve his ability to remain dominant in relationships. This carries over into personal relationships. They either don’t last or are miserable by any sane person’s standards. He must become more predatory over time to gain the resources and advantages needed to serve his addictions. This too becomes an addiction.
Primal Happiness becomes a cycle of escalating addictions no sane person with the benefit of forethought would choose. He is a slave within a cycle that destroys his life and everyone else unlucky enough to fall into his realm of influence.
Yes he has money and by today’s twisted standards he is at times, short moments, happy. But he is only happy because he has acquired the resources to reduce the number and severity of problems more prevalent among the average person.
The cells in the human body can become addicted to our behaviors, thought processes, emotions, beliefs, our environment, and our intake of consumables. It doesn’t matter if these are constructive to ourselves and others, or destructive, the cells can and will eventually become addicted.
Primal Happiness is happiness gained through Destructive Primal Behaviors whether it is intended or not intended to be destructive to oneself or others.
Primal Happiness is temporary because it is always accompanied with a delayed response of guilt or regret. For example you have heard of ‘buyer’s remorse’. This is another perfect example of Primal Happiness.
The consumer is conditioned and compelled through very focused advertising, packaging and product placement to purchase a product that will satisfy some primal instinct, like a big screen TV for social ranking, or a toy for their child that reminds them of pleasing emotions as a child.
Later the higher brain, the cortex kicks in and kicks you for your moment of weakness, which just happened to be carefully orchestrated by a team of marketers, psychologists, etc. You didn’t stand a chance. Don’t feel bad, neither did I.
The cells need ever greater satisfaction as they become desensitized to the chemical stimuli of Primal Happiness. This is why it is said to be an escalating addiction. The next time you get your fix you need just a little bit more to get the same buzz/high/effect.
Primal Happiness by definition is destructive, temporary primal satisfaction of escalating addictions. If you are only happy for moments at a time throughout the day it is because you are achieving Primal Happiness. If you are only happy with your relationship to your loved ones or friends for short moments, then you are satisfying Primal Happiness. It is temporary, fleeting.
b. The second method of achieving happiness is very rarely practiced but proven to achieve the highest level of happiness. This form of happiness actually builds upon itself and is permanent. It is called Cortex Happiness (constructive, permanent, cortex derived, satisfaction of regenerative addictions).
The human brain cannot distinguish a memory from events transpiring at the moment, those picked up by the bodies senses. This means that if you have a truly happy memory with no regrets, no guilt, no buyer’s remorse then the brain will send out the same chemicals as if you were having that experience for the very first time.
If there is guilt or regret from the cortex then that was Primal Happiness and the memory is tainted. The memory will not trigger the same chemicals or the same amount of chemicals as a memory untainted.
These are ‘happy chemicals’ that make virtually all of the cells of your body happier and healthier, producing the right proteins. This is what is meant by a constructive regenerative addiction. Only a memory is needed to regenerate the chemicals the cells are addicted to.
All humans are addicted. Addiction is ‘one’ of the fundamental reasons why people do what they do. The trick is to replace destructive addictions with constructive addictions.
Yes, a person can be addiction free. But that would take the will power of a saint /slash/ super hero. Constructive addictions are far easier to achieve and maintain. And as long as one has constructive regenerative addictions that fully satisfy them then there is no need, no motivation, to create or maintain destructive escalating addictions.
Does this mean we do one good and constructive thing and then simply remember it to make us happy indefinitely?
No, watching reruns gets old. It fails to fully stimulate the mind after a while. Variety is the spice of life. We need to perform many countless Cortex Behaviors (not Destructive Primal Behaviors) throughout our lives to build a library of memories that will sustain our Cortex Happiness. Memories of Cortex Happiness can get a person through even the darkest of times. I know this first hand as I am sure you do as well.
Cortex Happiness Memories are also thought of as the good deathbed memories. No superficial memories at this time, only those which really mean something, only those memories with no guilt, no remorse, no regret. This is not selfless, but not selfish either.
When one understands and practices Cortex Behaviors long enough, and lives in an environment conducive to Cortex Behavior and Happiness then that happiness could, theoretically, extend from dawn to dusk, your entire day. Imagine being happy almost all day, almost every day, opposed to the occasional rare moment most of us are blessed with today.
2. We each need to practice behavior that leads to Cortex Happiness.
As we practice these better behaviors, Cortex Behaviors, we replace our addictions to the behaviors that lead to Primal Happiness. Once you remove the addiction to Primal Happiness there are far fewer motives to commit destructive primal behavior. Remember this paragraph.
Addiction to Primal Happiness is one of the most powerful motives for committing destructive primal behavior. However as you now know there remains other reasons to commit destructive primal behavior like destructive primal instincts, destructive primal emotions, destructive primal beliefs, ignorance, and destructive primal environment among others. There are solutions to all of these as well. We’ll get to Cortex Behavior and Cortex Values soon enough.
3. We need to remove Primal Happiness from our environment, our civilization.
We need to have every option available to us to reach our Cortex Happiness. This means we need Systems of Civilization that provide those options. These solutions will be explained in detail, later.
4. We need an environment that promotes any constructive motivation, opportunity or method of seeking Cortex Happiness on an individual and civilization level.
5. We need an environment that rewards those who seek Cortex Happiness.
6. We need an environment that never promotes or entices people to seek to satisfy Destructive Primal Behavior.
7. We need an environment that never rewards those who seek to satisfy Primal Happiness.
8. We need an environment with as few problems as possible to create and maintain our individual Cortex Happiness.
9. We need to break the conditioning of people that believe that money equals freedom, and money equals happiness.
Money is almost always attained through the means of Destructive Primal Behavior. We know our job or business at some point hurts other people, or damages the environment, or causes harm in some other way. We only need examine the causality of our actions in a thorough and clinical manner to find this.
When we make our money or spend our money in ways that satisfy our Destructive Primal Behavior then we cannot achieve Cortex Happiness. So money does equal happiness in that you have the resources to reduce the quantity and severity of your problems. But all the money in the world will not gain one Cortex Happiness.
The act of acquiring money in a Destructive Primal Environment (capitalism) precludes one from achieving Cortex Happiness. Therefore one can never reach a far superior happiness with any amount of money. However there is a way to achieve and maintain an optimal standard of living and quality of life without using destructive primal methods. We’ll cover those later.
Money does not equal happiness as you were conditioned to believe. It also doesn’t equal freedom.
Those who make a lot of money become addicted to the process of making that money. That addiction, no primal escalating addiction equals freedom. They are addicted to social ranking attained through money. Again they are not free if they must escalate that addiction, buying ever more to stay on top, or to appear socially competitive.
To make a very long explanation short, money traps a person in a cycle of addictions that satisfy their Primal Happiness. This means there is virtually no Cortex Happiness, real long-term happiness, true happiness.
They attempt in vein to offset this deficit by donating to charities that permit for tax deductions. They attempt to use externality, to get tax payers to pay 28% of what they think will make them feel better for the sins they the donors have committed. This is not Cortex Happiness but it is probably as close as they are likely to get in this primal environment.
10. We need to create and maintain an environment (a civilization) that is constructive, moving forward, and eliminate any destructive, or regressive behaviors.
Constructive behavior is one of the functions of the cortex. Destructive behavior is primarily the function or what results when using the more primitive parts of our brain, the primal lizard or monkey brain.
This is not to say that there cannot be constructive and positive results from using some of the primal behaviors. The instinct to nurture one’s children is constructive and can lead to Cortex Happiness. There are exceptions. This is why I make the distinction between ‘Destructive Primal Behaviors’ and ‘primal behaviors’ or ‘primal instincts’…
By creating and maintaining an environment where only Cortex Behaviors and Cortex Happiness are promoted and rewarded we create a positive and constructive cyclical set of behaviors throughout the civilization.
The US, as is the case with all current civilizations, is stagnant. There is at times economic growth and the wealthy benefit quite nicely. The people who work for a living have seen a stagnant standard of living for almost 35 years. And because of inflation the quality of life has substantially declined.
An advanced civilization does not base success on the wealth of their wealthiest as we do. An advanced civilization that maintains Cortex Happiness bases its forward momentum on very different criteria. For example an advanced civilization bases success on the number of problems it has, the number of victims it has in all categories, the standard of living of every citizen, the quality of life of every citizen, the life expectancy of every citizen, the number of rights and freedoms of the least of its citizens, child mortality, infant mortality, dreams achieved per citizen, happiness of the citizens, equality…
A primal civilization always reaches a point of stagnation, decay and finally collapse. This is a real bummer for its citizens who depend on the civilization for pretty much everything. They just don’t realize it until the sky falls.
The reason for stagnation, decay and collapse is because the people are not at all happy with what is happening. Yes back to that happiness thing. And the reason the people are not happy is because maybe they deify the dollar, or maybe it’s a belief, or whatever other primal addictions they have that fails to give them anything but temporary satisfaction to addiction.
And when even these pathetic addictions are not met and fed the civilization crumbles. The addicts rich and poor must be satisfied or else all eventually tumbles and crumbles.
The solution is to give the people great objectives, tangible, purposeful, mutually beneficial goals. Don’t force them or trick them into building a pyramid one dead guy is going to occupy.
An advanced civilization builds something TOGETHER that is magnificent, completely utilitarian, monolithic in proportion, art with symmetry pleasing the eye at every angle, and something to be shared by all citizens and guests for now and until the end of time.
An advanced civilization builds cities with all these attributes and many more like nonpolluting, no traffic, no crime, minimal intrusion on habitat, resources, farming, no problems of any serious magnitude.
But this is not all that is required to sustain this advanced civilization. The rabbit hole goes much deeper.
The goal for an advanced civilization is the same as your goal right here and right now. Be happy, live long, live well, shed the veil of ignorance, the greatest form of slavery.
Remember who causes the problems and commits the crimes that effect us all. Is it the person addicted to Primal Happiness or those who are promoting, rewarded and addicted to Cortex Happiness?
So how do we create an advanced civilization giving us the environment we need to find our happiness, and keep it? We educate the people in a way they enjoy being educated while at the same time modifying our civilization in a way that will make us all happy.
The tools needed to attain this goal have been developed.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” ~ The United States Declaration of Independence
We have a right to the pursuit of Happiness. Our Systems of Civilization do not give us, the vast majority, any opportunity or method to achieve Cortex Happiness. These systems neither promote or reward us to reach for this the best form of happiness. Primal Happiness is the only achievable kind at this point and this is a slaves (addicted) happiness.
We need new Systems of Civilization that promote and reward only Cortex Behaviors and Happiness. Now that we know what happiness is with a clinical definition and the systemic tools to attain it, it is our right and our duty to work toward that end.
Happiness, true happiness for life is now attainable. The question is are you willing to work for your Cortex Happiness or some power broker’s Primal Happiness? Don’t waste another day of your life pursuing his freedom and his happiness.
Happiness held is the seed; Happiness shared is the flower. ~ John Harrigan
© 2009 Power To Evolve All Rights Reserved
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