How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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CHAPTER ONE
Of Basic Principles Living as a Fine Art
Definition of Happiness—Creative Self-sculpture—-Some Sources of
Unhappiness—The Case of Robert—Can We Change Human
Nature ?—'The Law of Psychic Inertia—How to Know Yourself—
Twelve Laws of Personality Evolution.
AS a human being you have the choice of three basic
attitudes toward life. You may approach life with
the philosophy of the turnip, in which case your life will
Consist in being born, eating, drinking, sleeping, maturing,
mating, growing old, and dying. Of human turnips there
are no end, and theirs is a calm contentment undisturbed
by the problems of this world. They require neither books
nor teaching, since vegetation is the be-all and end-all of
the human turnip’s life. The same Providence that
protects puppy dogs and earthworms watches over their
destiny and provides their simple wants in life. They
vegetate at the lowest level consistent with humanity, and
as they never read books, we need not disturb their placid
existences by useless instruction in the art of living.
The second basic attitude is to look at life as if it were a
business. A great many so-called successful men and
women believe that life is a business, and they arrange
their conduct and behaviour accordingly. If you believe
that life is a business your first question of life, naturally,
is “ What do I get out of it ? ” and your first reaction to
any new experience is, “ Plow much is this worth to
me ? ” In a world based on this attitude, happiness
becomes a matter of successful competition, and this is
the method of choice in the animal world. The stronger
eats the weaker. The fittest, in point of personal power,
survives at the expense of the weaker. Life becomes a
matter of aggressive offence and successful defence. Every
animal shifts for himself, and living alternates between
savage victory and abject defeat.