The Art of Happiness, by the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D.

_{and “happiness” doesn’t mean a cheerful facade or mindless puppylike feelings. it means real happiness; joy.}
.

the site

In this book, a typical western psychiatrist (Cutler) comes to understand the philosophy of the Dalai Lama, through a series of personal meetings with, and by attending teachings and lectures of, the Dalai Lama over the years. he doesn’t become a Buddhist or change any religious views as far as I can tell, but then again the Dalai Lama is committed to religious toleration and the working together of people of all faiths.

Cutler was trained in the Hobbesian tradition so pervasive in western society, which basically states that the nature of a human being is like that of a cornered wild animal: hateful, fearful, and vicious. We are miserable, guilty wretches. Self hatred is rampant and inborn, and you have to accept your anger and fear and misery and just try and make it less unbearable. Until the very recent movement of Positive Psychology in 2000, this was basically what most psychologists and psychiatrists were taught. Of course there are exceptions (this is a very broad picture I paint), but this is the underlying theme of most of western thought.

the Dalai Lama, on the other hand, obviously comes from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition: where it is a given that the nature of a human being is good and kind, and that suffering, in terms of how you deal with the circumstances you have, can be completely eliminated through awareness of the situation and changing of negative patterns of thought/cultivating positive patterns of thought. the Dalai Lama himself had never heard of self hatred at all, and wondered if he had understood the concept correctly because it was antithetical to anything he’d ever experienced.

so it was interesting to see Cutler start to come around. of course he was curious about the philosophy in the first place, and rather open, but he still had his reservations and wanted to be convinced.

the Dalai Lama comes across as a very warm and open person, very honest and self-assured yet not afraid to admit his faults. this is so refreshing. (and inspiring, personally.) the basic philosophy (towards attaining happiness and living a happy life) is simple, pragmatic, and powerful. the book takes special care with how to apply the philosophy to real life, regardless of your religious preferences, and also to show how this eastern philosophy is being supported more and more by western medical and scientific studies (even as the more traditional theories based on mechanistic or hydraulic views of the self are overturned).

The art of happiness has many components. As we’ve seen, it begins with developing an understanding of the truest sources of happiness and setting our priorities in life based on the cultivation of those sources. It involves an inner discipline, a gradual process of rooting out destructive mental states and replacing them with positive, constructive states of mind, such as kindness, tolerance, and forgiveness. In identifying the factors that lead to a full and satisfying life, we conclude with a discussion of the final component: spirituality. (293)

The Art of Happiness has strains in common with some of the books on Toltec tradition (Carlos Castaneda’s books and The Four Agreements), especially on seeing your enemies positively as opportunities for personal growth. (I am not really surprised, as such ideas might be much more common in non western philosophies in general; I don’t know.) however, I think The Art is by far a much more inspiring yet practical guide, and also easier to apply to life than those books.

the book is written by Cutler, with excerpts from the Dalai Lama’s speeches and their dialogue together. the wording is not particularly graceful or imaginative, but it is clear and precise. it communicates the material quite well.

I know there are those who roll their eyes at “the power of positive thinking”, but when it’s based on a fearlessly honest and realistic view of life, it does wonders. it does wonders for me. I am by no means very advanced in this kind of thing, but I started making consistent efforts down this road several years ago, and I am much happier and calmer and balanced now than before. (and we won’t even talk about when I was a teen.) a lot of life really is the way you see it. The Art of Happiness goes into this in more detail than I’d ever thought about before, and makes some very elegant points (which point out areas I still need to work on, but that I’d been completely unaware of before now).

a bit more here .

See more progress on: read all the books on my lists, type them up in my reading journal, and catalog them with LibraryThing

The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli

it’s a remarkably short book. the whole thing with introduction by translator and glossary of important people to know is less than 150 pages. and reading it in the modern age, it doesn’t seem near the scandal that it caused previously. if Machiavelli was a devil, he was at least an honest devil.

nothing very surprising in it, infamy and distortion aside _{much of it I already read quoted anyway. a related book is The 48 Laws of Power – wonderful read}. I read it to know firsthand what it says, and as a counterpoint for the next book up: The Art of Happiness.

Yvgenie, by C.J. Cherryh, and The Professional Stranger, by Michael H. Agar, and Colleges That Change Lives, by Loren Pope

I finished Yvgenie (the third in the trilogy) towards the end of June, just as I was coming down with a cold. I think this may have affected my brain because I’m still not quite sure about the ending.

and I want to reread it a bit later before I do a review or anything.

I went ahead and read The Professional Stranger, which is an informal introduction to ethnography/how to go about writing an ethnography, directed towards anthropology students, and those who wonder about the methods anthropologists use when learning about a group to whom they’re a complete stranger.

it was written in the 70s, and I haven’t read many other such books yet, so I don’t know how up to date or comparable it is. it was recommended, though, and pretty interesting.

I skimmed through Colleges That Change Lives (I read the main premise and skimmed through the actual colleges) last night. it was really eye-opening, and I wish I had read it twenty years ago! (sadly, none of the colleges mentioned were in California. the only ones on the west coast were in Oregon and Washington.) I had no idea there were colleges like St. John’s and Reed and Antioch out there. if you’re interested, the web site is: http://www.ctcl.com/