Achieve Lasting Happiness: Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Life

By Robert E. Canright Jr.

Everyone wants a happy life. We sometimes assume possessions, power, prestige, or excitement will make us happy. All these pursuits eventually leave people feeling unfulfilled. Achieve Lasting Happiness, shows the secret to happiness lies within our humanity.

We can realize the full potential of our humanity through the power of self-transformation. This book explains a four-step process for a fulfilling life. The four-step process is applied in a 28-day guided study using the timeless lessons of Confucius. This book will empower you to change your life. It will put you on the path to lasting happiness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 11, 2005
• ISBN: 9781463457624

Robert E. Canright Jr.

Robert Canright is President and founder of the Timeless Way Institute, which empowers individuals to achieve a life of self-transformation through the lessons of Confucius. The Timeless Way is the wisdom of Confucius updated for the twenty-first century.  The Timeless Way Institute promotes tolerance and prosperity through universal principles.  It guides individuals in personal growth, strengthens communities, and promotes harmony between communities and between cultures. Mr. Canright saw the lessons of Confucius being overlooked by the modern world.  After years of study, he founded the Timeless Way Institute to promote these lessons.  See www.TimelessWayInstitute.com for more information.

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© 2005 Robert E. Canright, Jr. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 08/10/05

ISBN: 1-4208-3894-6 (sc)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1. The Eternal Question

The Good Life

Globalization and Greed

Western Individualism

The Self

East and West

Making Changes

Building Bridges to a Hub

The Doctrine of the Mean

Happiness is an Activity

Adversity

Hope, Perseverance, and Faith

The Good Universe

The Timeless Way

The Power of Thoughts

A Cultural Hub

The Triumph of Hope Over Despair

Reliability

Conclusion

Chapter 2. The Timeless Answer

Change

Harmony

Community

Humanity (Jen, Benevolence, Love)

Li (Ritual, Propriety, Principle, Duty)

Heaven (T’ien), the Way (the Tao), and the Great Ultimate (T’ia-chi)

The Self

Self-improvement, the Sage, and the Good Citizen

Summary

Chapter 3. From Dream to Reality

The Challenge

The Answer

The Dream

The Personal Challenge

The Power of Virtue

The Power of Self-Transformation

The Plan

Truth

Commitment

Joy

Hope

The Process as a Mantra

Chapter 4. A Better Life, a Better World

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Chapter Summary

Conclusion

Suggestions for further study

Additional Reading

Acknowledgements

I have been greatly influenced by the works of Dr. Tu Wei-ming of Harvard. I believe everyone wishing to bring the wisdom of Confucius into contemporary society owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Tu for his decades of work in the service of humanity.

Thanks also to Philip J. Ivanhoe, Robert Cummings Neville, and Bryan W. Van Norden for their work on Confucianism.

I thank my mother for her efforts to rear me as a gentleman, which is a Confucian ideal. My mother, Julieta Canright, and my sisters, Maggie Thompson and Carolyn Thurman, offered very thoughtful comments.

Thanks to my wife and children for their support and encouragement and for enduring countless hours of neglect while I wrote this book.

Thanks also to my many friends who have reviewed my work and offered suggestions, especially: Medina Wong, Dr. John Holliman, Dr. Pamela Kemp, John Crowder, and Mohamed Aslam.

Gary Beason and Robert Schermerhorn helped with editing and proofreading, but I take full credit for any typographical or writing errors I have created after they finished their work.

Who can say where inspiration comes from? Thank you to my muse. I appreciate the opportunity to write this book.

I have met so many people over the years who have made a positive impact in my life that I cannot thank them all except thusly: thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the support, or encouragement, or love you have shared with me. You have all enriched my life, some beyond measure.

Preface

In the dawn of a new millennium, we stand at a fork in the road. One path leads to conflict and turmoil and has already destroyed the World Trade Towers in New York City and bankrupted many corporations, Enron and WorldCom being just two of many examples. The other path leads to tolerance, peace, and prosperity. Humanity will face either its brightest or darkest days in the years to come. Peace and prosperity seem an obvious choice, but there is so much division in a world growing smaller and more interconnected every year that world peace and prosperity seems out of reach. Diversity without tolerance leads to strife.

Moving past tribalism, nationalism, and religious differences is difficult without universally accepted values. Fortunately, there is a solution from the Far East. This book will give you a blueprint for examining your life in new ways that will empower you like never before. You will see lessons on life and ethics that are spiritual but not religious. The lessons are respectful of religious beliefs, making this book accessible to people of all persuasions. These lessons can unify people with universal wisdom.

Part One of this book begins by examining both how this Eastern wisdom meets society’s needs in the early third millennium and examining the soundness of this wisdom in comparison to the foundations of Western philosophy. Next, a new way of looking at the world is explored through the eyes of this Eastern wisdom. You will see that you cannot improve the world without improving your life, and you cannot improve your life without improving the world.

Then a process of self-transformation is explained. This process of self-transformation can lead you to personal fulfillment and empowerment. Finally, a 28-day study to begin the journey of self-transformation concludes Part One.

Part Two of this book contains The Analects of Confucius, updated for the third millennium. There are references to Chinese culture that do not apply to contemporary society and there are needs in capitalistic democracies that are not directly addressed by lessons for an ancient monarchy, making it necessary to update the lessons. Confucius is the Western name for K’ung Fu-tzu, which means Master K’ung. His students referred to him as the Master, but we will refer to him as The Teacher because Americans call no one master.

Whether you are a fireman, a lawyer, a soldier, a businessman, a teacher, or a student, this book is for you. Whether you are searching for truth, peace, joy, or lasting prosperity, the lessons in this book will help you in your quest. If you are striving to be the best parent, employee, or boss that you can be, then these lessons will help you.

If you read and practice these lessons, I believe your life and your community will be enriched, and we can start on the road to a bright future.

Chapter 1. The Eternal Question

You’ve heard it said, You only have one life to live, so make it a good one. The debate has gone on for thousands of years: What is the good life? In Western civilization, a good life has been thought to be a happy life. Now, our concepts of both the good life and the happy life are being violently challenged in the very beginning of this new millennium. September 11th has shown us how much damage unhappy people with a warped sense of goodness can cause.

Next, financial debacles in the year 2002 at Enron and WorldCom damaged the American economy more than the evil actions of al-Qaeda, yet the executives at these corporations were apparently very successful individuals. The Universe is clearly delivering an urgent message to us that we overlook at our peril: we must re-examine the good life and the very nature of goodness and happiness.

The Good Life

The eternal question is What is the good life and how do you live it? Part of the answer lies in knowing where your happiness resides. Part of the answer lies in how you see the world. And a big part of the answer is in the direction you give your life. This book puts together all the parts of the answer to this question of what is the good life.

Chapter One emphasizes the importance of rediscovering the good life. Chapter Two offers a new way of looking at the world. Chapter Three shows a way to give your life direction. Chapter Four shows a path to lasting happiness.

The secret to the good life is a blend of Eastern and Western wisdom. Chapter One explores this blend of the East and West to demonstrate its validity and reliability. The recent concerns of terrorism and economic instability underscore the importance of understanding and seeking the good life.

Globalization and Greed

We are on a path to discover new ways to face a new world. Samuel P. Huntington predicted in a 1993 article in Foreign Affairs that cultural differences would lead to violence. He expanded the article to book length in 1996, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, and it probably sits in your local library. In spite of this Harvard professor predicting problems, we were all surprised by the violence of September 11th. This valuable work was overlooked by our society because there are so many demands on our time that important works do get overlooked. The same is true of the lessons in this book: they are valuable and have been overlooked.

We only need to focus on a problem to begin solving it. So many thoughtful words have been written about our problems that often we only need to sift through what is in print and choose carefully to get a workable solution. It is hard to make a good choice. It is very hard to get agreement on a choice. The wrong choice will leave our problems unsolved and delay or totally derail our success. It is time for us all to become involved in choosing our path back to prosperity and happiness.

A few greedy people seeking happiness and prosperity destroyed Enron, the innovative energy trading company in Houston, WorldCom, the large telecommunications company in Clinton, Mississippi, and the large accounting firm named Arthur Andersen. A few unhappy people destroyed thousands of lives in New York’s Twin Towers. A few unhappy children caused enormous grief in Columbine, Colorado, by killing their classmates.

The problems caused by unhappy people have been increasingly worse so that we are being compelled to solve these problems in order to safeguard our happiness. Yet we must also consider the simultaneous problem caused by the Clash of Civilizations. There is a great deal of discomfort and unhappiness created when very different cultures are forced to live closer together than they wish.

The pressure of globalization is causing the Clash of Civilizations. Globalization is apparently unstoppable, so we must deal with it. Our new solution to the old problem of achieving happiness must address these issues of excessive greed, individual frustration, and cultural clashes, or we will continue in turmoil and conflict.

Western Individualism

As we pursue a new way to achieve happiness, we need to seek more than personal happiness. We want to achieve a fuller, richer life for ourselves and for others. If we neglect other people’s happiness, some of these unhappy people might ruin our lives. Western civilization, since the time of the ancient Greeks, has examined the happy life in the context of the individual. One could say, based on our material prosperity, that Western individualism has served us well for thousands of years. The need to reconsider our Western roots is based on two factors: America has had a great influx of Eastern cultures from increased immigration, and globalization has pushed many cultures uncomfortably close to each other. The key to our happiness and prosperity lies within the vision we have of ourselves and within the vision we have of a good and happy life.

Your needs are very important. You deserve peace, joy, and prosperity as much as anyone does. But notice those last few words: as much as anyone does. The needs of others must be given the same consideration as your personal needs. Cultural expectations influence an individual’s needs. Different cultures produce different influences. If the key to our happiness lies within the culturally dependent vision we have of ourselves and of a good and happy life, then this vision must accommodate other people and other cultures. The American concept of the rugged individual, independent of society, is becoming outdated.

The Self

Your happiness depends upon both the broad concept of you and the particular concept of you. The particular image you have of yourself is formed by your experiences, relationships, environment, and culture, to name only a few influences. This is the you of your desires and experiences. This is the personal sense of self that grows as naturally within us as a flower grows under the influence of sunshine and water.

The broad view you have of yourself is the more abstract view formed by your mind actively considering the qualities, attributes, strengths, and weaknesses you have as a person. This is the you that you think about. While your qualities are certainly personal to you, cultures have a model for the abstract concept of self. When your mind compares and modifies your attributes in light of an ideal cultural model of the self, your sense of self grows less naturally and more like a bonsai tree, shaped and molded by care and will and knowledge.

Plato believed the self could be viewed as having three parts: bodily desires, psyche, and mind. The Greek word psyche has been translated as soul, but common usage of that word does not fit Plato’s usage of psyche. Heart is a better word, meaning a combination of emotions, passions, intuition, and character. Although Plato lived long ago, from 427 B.C. to 348 B.C., you can see his influence extending for hundreds of years. Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor who lived 500 years after Plato, referred to body, soul, and mind when he touched on peace and happiness in his Meditations (book 3, section 16).

For thousands of years, Western thinkers have believed true happiness cannot be achieved without addressing some timeless questions: What is the good life? and How should people act? These are core questions in classical ethics. We frame the answers to these questions in the context of a person who is described by the needs and actions of his body, his heart, and his mind. But is this view of the self truly enough? This image of the self with three parts has worked adequately in the West for thousands of years, but the Middle East and Far East are no longer half way around the world. They are in the house down the street, in the dry cleaners, in the stores you visit weekly, and in the same school as your children. If we are reconsidering our framework for a good life, we ought to examine what our neighbors from the East have to offer

It is amazing. We look to the Far East and we see the ancient Chinese scholar Hsun Tzu, also known as Xunzi, writing in a work called the Tian Lun that people are born with four properties: body, heart, mind, and community. Plato and Hsun Tzu missed being contemporaries by only 38 years. It is remarkable to see two brilliant men, half way around the world from each other, develop almost simultaneously concepts of the self that are so similar. Both men agreed the self could be viewed as body, heart, and mind, but Hsun Tzu added the community to the image of the self. When we expand our awareness and realize our connections to other people are part of what defines our humanity, then we re-energize ourselves.

Plato was taught directly by Socrates, the founder of a school of thought that has dominated Western thinking. Hsun Tzu followed an older teacher that I will refer to as The Teacher. This Teacher, born in 551 B.C., strove to preserve the teachings of sages that were already ancient 2,500 years ago. His students called him K’ung Fu-tzu, which means Master K’ung. The Europeans called him Confucius.

It is because so many traditions have been built upon the name of Confucius, because so many teachings have been created by others and added to his legacy, that his original lessons are like a grand castle overrun by ivy and plant growth, obscuring its original grandeur. There is no slight intended by referring to him as The Teacher instead of as Confucius. The intention is only to avoid overreacting to his name, and to avoid confusing later traditions with his original teachings.

East and West

Eastern and Western traditions and cultures are different, but they share these elements in the concept of the self: body (or bodily desires), heart, and mind. The East differs in also defining the self in the context of the community. Did Western thinkers make a mistake? Did Eastern thinkers go too far? Those are not helpful questions. It is better to say that we are incredibly lucky that there was this one difference between the East and West. It is as though the Universe has created a massive sociological experiment to test the effects of this one factor — an individual’s identification with the community — in a study lasting thousands of years. No person could conceive and execute such an experiment, yet we are perfectly capable of analyzing the results.

If the key to our happiness lies within the vision we have of ourselves and of a good and happy life, and if this vision must accommodate other people and other cultures, then we are fortunate in being able to analyze a 2,500 year-long experiment on including or excluding the community in the concept of the self. We will consider differences between the East and West. We will examine the original lessons of The Teacher, not to learn a contemporary tradition associated with his name, but rather to begin again at the source and strike out on our own path, guided by The Teacher and the needs of the 21st century.

The positive effect of the West’s focus on individualism has been a dynamic culture and economy. There are a multitude of negative effects. Entrepreneurs who launch companies are respected while the employees who help build the companies are less valuable to the companies than the chairs they sit upon. The employee is a cost; the chair is an asset. The American economy has dynamic growth, yet foolish actions by selfish executives lead to spectacularly dynamic collapse. If we want growth without collapse, then honesty and consideration of others are needed. A sense of community and of responsibility to the community — both Eastern concepts — can temper the excesses of capitalism.

The positive effects of the East’s focus on community are cultural stability, disciplined teamwork, and a sense of personal relationships in business. The East too can be accused of shortcomings. A stable society can become stagnant. Too much teamwork can stifle creativity and initiative. We’ve probably all heard this adage: the nail that stands out gets hammered. Reliance on personal relationships in business and government can lead to corruption or inefficiency. The East and West each have their own strengths and weaknesses. The beginning of a new millennium is an auspicious time to make changes.

Making Changes

One of the hallmarks of the West is the manner in which Western societies adapt by embracing successful practices and abandoning failed practices. It seems obvious, yet abandoning failed methods can be very hard for many organizations. There are countless American businesses that have mated for life with failed business practices. There are even jokes among managers about the futility of repeating failed practices: insanity is doing the same thing all the time, but expecting that next time the results will be different. Doing what works might be the crowning glory of Western civilization exactly because it is so hard to do what is obvious.

Our task is to take what works from the East, take what works for the West, and merge them. One vital Eastern concept is the importance of personal relationships. Most of us cannot achieve a life of lasting happiness by living in isolation. Few people can move to Walden Pond and live a life of simple detachment. Jean Paul Sartre said, hell is other people. In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius said that he expected some people to offend him, but he refused to become angry with them because they were born to work together (book 2, section 1). In the one-man show Swimming to Cambodia, Spalding Gray described how awful it is to have a bad neighbor. We’ve all dealt with a bad neighbor, a bad co-worker, a bad classmate, a bad teacher, or a bad boss.

Other people can diminish the quality of our lives, yet American culture sometimes glorifies selfish behavior. Ayn Rand promoted selfish behavior, and her works have a strong following among people in America who are driven to achieve. Michael Douglas’s character in the 1987 movie, Wall Street, delivered a greed is good speech that caused some controversy in America by merely repeating a widely held belief that has permeated the American culture. The collapse of WorldCom, Arthur Andersen, and Enron has finally demonstrated that unbridled greed is dangerous. To reach our goal of peace and prosperity, we need to work more closely together — locally and globally.

Building Bridges to a Hub

To bridge differences, we need a bridge. It is too difficult for each culture to create individual bridges to each other culture. Four cultures require six bridges. Five cultures require ten bridges. As more cultures demand individual attention from others, the number of bridges escalates exponentially. Creating individual bridges between each culture is an unmanageable solution. All cultures splinter into subcultures, increasing the number of bridges needed. Anytime a major cultural shift occurs, every single bridge to that culture would be outdated and much work would be needed to fix the bridges. The solution is to have a common reference point, like a single hub in the airport system. Instead of building bridges from each culture to every other culture, one builds a single bridge from each culture to a hub, a single point of common reference. Values and hopes are the life-blood of a culture. If we can share some core set of values or beliefs, we can start building the trust that will let us see someone from across the globe as a brother instead of an alien.

There is no common world religion, so religion cannot be the common reference point. The worst troublemakers are presently using religion to create division, so we cannot even consider attempting to bridge cultures with a common religion. The East and West are so close to a shared concept of the self — body, heart, and mind — that if Westerners would embrace the community as a part of oneself, then we would have a common reference point. People want to be happy. WorldCom, Arthur Andersen, and Enron have demonstrated that prosperity is related to ethical behavior. Maybe the corporate leaders got rich by unethical behavior, but they couldn’t hold onto their wealth.

The core questions of classical ethics — What is the good life? What is the secret of happiness? and How should people act? — are as vital today as they were thousands of years ago. A system of universal ethics that respects the rights, freedoms, and energy of the individual while simultaneously valuing the harmony, stability, and culture of the community could serve as a common reference point for the world. The Teacher valued the individual and the community. The Teacher respected religion without creating a religion. If the whole world were to rediscover the lessons of The Teacher, then this body of wisdom could be a common reference point, a central hub. Each culture could interpret this wisdom in context of its culture. To bridge the gap between your culture and another culture, you would learn that culture’s interpretation of The Teacher’s lessons. The new millennium has started badly, but if we all turn to wisdom and embrace it, then our cultures will be rewarded with peace, joy, and prosperity; and individuals will see the path to the happiness they deserve.

Describing The Teacher’s lessons as a cultural hub is a good analogy, but it is not the only way to describe the benefits of these lessons. Many believe that their own religion is the only true religion. If other beliefs are felt to be false, it becomes unpleasant or distasteful to read the holy works of another faith while one’s mind cries, This is false! Many people of different faiths find it difficult to bridge their differences when all they have available to them is either their own doctrine or the other’s doctrine, which they believe to be false. Many faithful believers of different persuasions are apprehensive about touching another doctrine. But if believers of opposing faiths are familiar with The Teacher’s lessons, then they have a safe way of finding common ground — a central hub. It is as though people of incompatible faiths each put on a glove before shaking hands to avoid contagion.

We can add a coin analogy to the glove analogy and the hub analogy. It is difficult for people from different cultures or religions to discuss shared values. The free flow of value based discussions or culture based ideas is hampered by misunderstanding, suspicion, and ignorance. This is similar to commerce being slowed by lack of common currency. We can think of The Teacher’s lessons as a widely accepted currency, like the Euro or Dollar. A common cultural coin will improve communication, helping us move forward to a more peaceful and prosperous world.

When a sprinter gets set for a race, he braces his feet against starting blocks or digs them into the earth. The sprinter braces against something solid to push against. In rediscovering ancient teachings, we are not turning back the clock; we are bracing ourselves, like a sprinter, against something solid in order to propel ourselves forward.

Are we