What is happiness ? How to be happy? The question sometimes comes back to you since your last philosophy classes in high school, without ever drawing an official user manual. However, we all have a small idea of what it would take to reach absolute plenitude. Less constraint, suffering, stress, more joy and pleasures of all kinds. And it is perhaps here that we are on the wrong track. In an article published on January 23 on the site of the British daily newspaper
The Guardian
, Paul Bloom, professor of psychology and cognitive sciences at Yale University in the United States, dismantles the hedonistic heritage according to which to be happy, the human beings must seek pleasure at all costs while avoiding suffering.
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A meaningful life
According to the professor, it is nevertheless the sufferings that contribute to our happiness.
To support his words, Paul Bloom points to our utopian and blissful representation of happy existence.
In reality, he observes, “we are not only looking for pleasure, but above all we want to live a life that has meaning”.
To do this, we set goals, we venture out of our comfort zone, we carry out projects.
And all this has a cost, requires effort, sometimes involves fighting against the difficulties of everyday life.
"
Building a meaningful life involves experiencing suffering, anxiety and struggle," says the professor.
If we experience certain sufferings, such as those related to bereavement, for example, we choose to experience others, knowingly, convinced that they will add value to our lives.
Paul Bloom clarifies his point by giving the example of parenthood.
“If we know for a fact what it is all about, how difficult it is going to be, we still choose to conceive.
And we rarely regret our choices,” he says.
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This close link between happiness and suffering was studied by the professor in his book
The Sweet Spot
(1).
He cites several scientific studies.
"Generally, people claiming to have found meaning in their lives also show a higher level of concern than others," summarizes Paul Bloom.
And to note that “the most rewarding professions are those which require exposing oneself to the pain of others.
And when we are asked to describe the experiences that have marked our lives, we tend to think of those that have been intense, very pleasant – but also very painful”, illustrates the professor.
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The professor also cites the theory of British philosopher Alan Watts.
According to the latter, a life where everything would be simple and easy, in which one would have the power to grant all his wishes, to decide the course of each event, would very quickly turn into boredom.
“We would like to add to it risk, uncertainties, lack and some obstacles, sometimes even insurmountable, so that we would end up dreaming of living this life that we have today.”
(1) Paul Bloom is the author of
The Sweet Spot: Suffering, Pleasure, and the Key to a Good Life
, Ed.
Bodley Head, 304 pages, 24.71 euros.
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