where happiness lives

You probably sat in a fancier conference room the last time you refinanced or heard a pitch about life insurance. There's a table, some off-brand mesh office chairs, a bookcase that looks as if it had been put together with an Allen wrench and instructions in Swedish.

To reach this room, you pass through a cubicle farm lightly populated by quiet young people. Either they have just arrived or they are just leaving, because their desks are almost bare. The place has a vaguely familiar feel to it, this air of transient shabbiness and nondescriptitude. You can't quite put your finger on it ...

"It's like the set of The Office," someone offers.

Bingo.

Who writes like that??? I guess there's a reason not everyone with a pen and a decent language set (read yours truly) works for Time. The people who write for that magazine are just in a league all their own. That was the start of their 2008 Person of the Year story, featuring, of course, Barack Obama, and that guy was describing the office Obama sits in till he becomes the President officially this month. Anyway, that was just a sidebar, someone I hope is going to be me soon. 2008's gonna go down as the year a black person won the US presidency with no experience and against two candidates who were basically institutions in that country's politics asides from being white, a black person won formula one for the first time ever, Federer lost number one since he first got it some time in 05, a new powerhouse was created at the Olympics by the name Usain Bolt (as in the stars just lined up for this guy, coz how else do you explain his parents naming him Bolt and him growing up to be, like, a FAST runner), Vladimir Putin gave up the Russian presidency and was immediately appointed Prime Minister, the last Harry Potter was released and instantly became the fastest selling book in history (11 million copies in one day!!!! just in US and Britain, interestingly a record previously held by the previous Harry Potter, which had in turn unseated the fifth Harry Potter - that's literary power) and JK Rowling became richer than the Queen, and still despite all this a person we hardly ever think about made it to the top of the 100 Most Influential People list - the Dalai Lama. It's amazing because by his own philosophies he can't be vocal, can't draw attention to himself in any way, can't forcibly advance his beliefs, and of course doesn't go to parties with Paris Hilton or endorse Armani gowns.

He's supposed to be the guy who sits and watches silently while the rest of the world oppresses him, and prays for them, probably writes them an angry email once in a while just to let them know he's also human, in case they'd forgotten. But unlike Gandhi in the 60's, this guy is facing the Chinese communists, who, unlike their British counterparts, are not likely to be given to sudden attacks of conscience that will lead to Tibet's freedom. In fact, conscience doesn't even seem to have a Chinese translation - I looked it up! (ok, maybe I dint try hard enough :) If they gagged the media even during the Olympics there's not much these people won't do! And yet he still thinks kindly about them. "I don't dislike the Chinese, only their actions," he says. So then therefore the most mystical thing about this guy is also the most ordinary, seemingly: he's happy. In the midst of all the chaos and turmoil he's happy. Knowing that he's up against the largest civilisation and has only discipline and hope on his side, the Dalai Lama still wakes up in the morning and smiles. How does a person do that? Millions of people turn to him for inspiration. They prop him up on a pedestal and aspire to be like him. Where does he turn to? Not George Bush, that's for sure :)

If there's one thing his story shows us it's that happiness does not depend on possessions, even the intangible, widely regarded as lofty ones, like peace of mind and self worth. Just as easily as you choose to detest those who would oppress you and stew your insides over in all the grudges and ill feelings you harbor, you could choose to forgive them and wish them well, and free your mind to be truly happy. Existentialists believe in existence over essence - that the self, the very being of the person, rather than some predefined notion of human essence, defines what it is to be human. Basically, a person should be able to believe himself anything, metaphorically speaking even a superhero, and be it. The existence comes before the essence, and so we are totally in control of everything about us, including whether or not we're happy. We don't find a stereotype and grow into it. Instead, by how we live we create the stereotype.

They say, though, that man is a social being, and also that misery loves company. Thinking transitively, that would imply that man is somehow inherently miserable. So then he has to actually take measures to make himself happy. It won't just fall on him. But the thing is, what measures? Since hate and fear and worry are not like things you actively do, they're not physical, how do you stop? How do you make yourself truly free? When it comes to destiny and fate I tend to agree with the existentialist principles - we are wholy and completely in control of our ends. I don't believe there are people who are destined to be wretched and they don't have a choice in the matter. So I know there's something we should be able to do about it, but what? I don't do new year's resolutions, coz really we're usually just carrying over last year's ones into this year (unless we're Steve Jobs and our goals are things like make the iPhone the standard in mobile communication), but this year I want to find out what it means to be truly happy. I want to be able to stand in the midst of all the torrid goings-on around me and tune them all out and marvel at the wonder that is nature. At the beauty of roses, and the magnificence of the sky and the ocean, and the grandeur of mountains, and the gracefulness of the swimming duck. Anne Frank says "The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature." and yet Albert Camus thinks differently: "You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." They both seem to have a point, I think. I just don't know whose is the stronger one. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, they say. I guess it meanss something that the Dalai Lama wears none.

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