Pythagoras once said: “Man know thyself and thou shalt know the secrets of the world.” This statement vaguely implies that revelation comes from within the nature of man himself and that knowing the meaning of life should amount to happiness. Before diving into man’s nature, we have to take a step back and first define the world, define reality. Reality is subjective, the only time it’s possible for it to become objective is when everyone in the world would agree on everything; ultimately this means that there would be no conflict and everyone would share the same perception. It goes without saying that this impractical idealism, is farfetched and might be unattainable. Simply, because even if everyone would share the exact same perception and would subsequently also have the exact same nurture, their intrinsic nature would make them act differently, of which the action would be in accordance with their personality type. This does not mean though that we should not strive towards reaching a consensus about the best way to perceive reality. Logically speaking, one can state that the best perception is the one which most people would benefit from, so that even when we act differently and according to our personality type, we can be one in the way we see things. The “Enneagram of Personality” describes essentially 9 different personality types (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality), of which the descriptions coincidentally overlap with the symbolic meaning of the 9 numbers in numerology (the order is just a bit mixed up), but that’s a different topic. In order to answer the question of how does a person find happiness, we have now established that reality is subjective and there are 9 different personality types. I truly believe one cannot find true profound happiness in the material world, until he first defines himself internally (Who am I?) and secondly lives in accordance with this nature, so as to fulfill the best suited role for himself in society. Only then the internal and external, subjective reality will truly become pleasing to that person’s senses. The Enneagram of Personality offers for each personality type certain spectrums with two opposing extremities, there are for example the basic fears and the basic desires, and the passions (or sins) and virtues. In order to be happy, one needs to be in complete harmony with this dual nature, this means harmonizing opposites such as reason and emotion (which is wisdom), good and evil (which is justice), positive and negative (which is ambiguity) and masculinity and femininity (which is androgyny). This fusion of opposites creates a third overarching combination, in which one’s potential reaches the optimal level of one’s capacity. Lastly there’s one more factor playing a role in reaching enlightenment and true happiness, this final factor is the way one copes with- and understands the force of the external world, which is not under our own control. One cannot choose the environment he’s born in or his physical appearance or his capabilities, besides these there are also situational forces such coincidence and luck. The difficult task here is that, because reality is subjective, one can always shift perspectives. This means to shine a light from a particular angle, in which one can be contempt with, as discussed above this should be the perspective, of which most people would benefit from. All of this in order to grasp that which is known as truth and to truly understand the world. No matter the outcome, to know the truths of this world is fulfillment in itself. By saying all of the above I am of course making the assumption that all of mankind is instinctively good-natured, show me an evil baby and I will eat up my words.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 11:55:57 +0000
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