Modern Society and Happiness Through the Eyes of His Holiness

Mercy Bisi Olatunji

Mercy Bisi Olatunji is one of the students from the original Project Happiness program. As part of their original curriculum, the students read and reviewed the Dalai Lama’s book Ethics for the New Millenium and discussed how it applied to their current situations.

As I study Chapter One of the Ethics for the New Millennium, three major issues come to my mind. The first and most important is the Dalai Lama’s handling and definition of genuine happiness, the nature of happiness and where it is located in the innermost part of our being. The second major issue that the Dalai Lama addresses is that the quest for happiness and avoidance of suffering and pain is a basic and fundamental human desire. Everyone wants and needs to be happy, but nobody wants to even contemplate suffering or pain. Thirdly, the Dalai Lama describes a practical reality in our lives; the fact that there is so much suffering and pain even though nobody wants to suffer. What an irony this is. So many people suffer and even go hungry in the midst of plenty or abundance.

The Dalai Lama, through the Ethics for the New Millennium as well as his work, has challenged me personally to reflect on the important issues of life and to seek answers and solutions to the root causes of happiness and pain human society. My study of the book with colleagues in school, and also alone at home, has made me more aware and conscious of the basic philosophical and existential questions of “Who am I?”, “Why am I in existence?”, “How can I be happy?”, “How do I make others happy?”, “What is truth?”; the list of questions goes without end.

Looking at my proximate community and especially my country Nigeria, I find a lot of very practical and challenging issues. I want to be happy, but other people around me also have every right to be happy; I cannot be truly happy by inflicting pain on others. My happiness is conditioned by the happiness I bring to others. But genuine happiness, which the Dalai Lama describes as originating from within and is as a result of inner peace, comes from serving others. The one who serves, and the one to whom the service is provided, both feel happy, even though the service provider gets happier.

I agree with the Dalai Lama that people in modern societies tend to depend more on machines and services rather than on fellow human beings. The consequence of all this is unhealthy competitions, envy, hatred, accounting for the problems, tensions and unhappiness in our societies today. This trend must be challenged and changed, by all of us, individually and collectively. As we all seek ways and means to find happiness and fulfillment in life, His Holiness calls us to reflect on the fact that there is someone else somewhere, very close to us, who needs our help in order to be happy too. Only when we succeed in making such a person happy do we become happy ourselves and find the fulfillment and satisfaction that we seek. The Dalai Lama does not only show us the way, he is actually in the lead, by his practical example. He does not only preach peace and compassion, he is actually a very peaceful and compassionate human being.

MERCY BISI OLATUNJI

JOS – NIGERIA