The Science of Happiness: When We Understand the Science of Happiness, We Can Make Our Mind More Efficient in Deriving Happiness in Life!

By Jay Ghosh

It has been known for a while, through the work of Science, that the physical existence, and nature of all living things, including ours, are being influenced, and controlled by the process of Evolution. This book explains a theory about the link between this process and our minds, and how we can maximize our chances of deriving Happiness in Life!

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781475974294

Jay Ghosh

The author of this book was born in Kolkata, India. After doing his Masters in Electrical Engineering from Jadavpur University, in 1966, he came to Washington, D.C., and did his Masters in Electronics in 1970 . Though his occupation was in technology, his life-long passion has been in Philosophy!

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Copyright © 2013 by Jay Ghosh.

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-7428-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-7429-4 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013901873

iUniverse rev. date: 02/06/2013

Contents

Introduction

The ultimate natural process, and its link to our happiness

A different definition of happiness (and misery)

Another way of grading our life

Different kinds of happiness

a)    Happiness from the Basic Rewards

b)    The higher quality happiness, the secondary sources

The positive changes that promote evolution

It’s the overall change, taking into account many changes

Do we lean towards the positive naturally?

Positive and negative changes— some examples

The strategy to maximize our chances of finding happiness

Protecting, and maintaining our positive mental state

And as we get older . . .

The different lifestyles of our later years

Some Case Studies

1)    The pleasure of eating food:

2)    The Reward of Sex

3)    The happiness from money:

4)    The Pleasure of Love

5)    Marriage

6)    The pleasure from children

7)    The family that links to happiness

8)    Morality!

9)    The happiness from the Senses:

10)    Stress

11)    The desire to win!

12)    The detached attachment is the way to happiness as advised by wise men.

13)    Jealousy

14)    The great serenity prayer2,3

15)    We feel happy to bond with family members, and friends

15b)    Racism

16)    Materialism

16b)    Deeper happiness from bigger toys?

17)    Greed

18)    We often get frustrated in trying to find happiness!

19)    Belief versus Wisdom:

20)   The character traits that are most important for finding happiness.

21)   Talent, we love and respect

22)    Some of our most important political systems

23)    Praying or worshiping

24)    How can we rate the quality of Pleasures!

25)    The pleasure of negative gossips

26)    Mahatma Gandhi’s strategy of nonviolence4,10:

27)    Sometimes people are doing good things, but still are unhappy!

28)    Transition between generations

29)    Fairness is not a gift from a kind soul:

30)    We tend to get less happy as we get older!

31)    Pleasing God!

32)    Follow Religion with blind faith or with logic, and intelligence!

33)    Good Friends, Bad Friends, Enemies!

34)    Grief from the death of a friend or relative

35)    Loyalty

36)    Love of Privacy

37)    The subject of Death

38)    We naturally love to be with others in harmony:

39)    Why do we love music

40)    The direction of the life’s natural flow

Is there a bigger goal in the mind of the Supreme Force?

References

In loving memory of my parents

Is there a bigger goal in the mind

of the Supreme Force?

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Introduction

It probably happens to most of us at times of our lives, that a vague feeling of unhappiness—a feeling of emptiness appears even when we are doing well in the practical world, and we can’t find the reason for it! It can be frustrating, but it can also be a good sign! Because it may mean that a healthy mind is looking for more, and deeper happiness in life, but it doesn’t know how to find it. And time is passing!

I had the same unhappy feelings intermittently in my life, starting in my senior high school years, in India. It even made me leave my home periodically, chasing holy men, and looking for answers. But I wasn’t lucky to find them, and had to put my lingering thoughts in temporary storage, and focus my attention on my education. After graduation, while I was doing my post-graduate studies in Electronics in the USA, those old vague feelings of unhappiness started to