The Pursuit of Happiness: A Book of Studies and StrowingsBrinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
Philosophy
The Pursuit of Happiness: A Book of Studies and Strowings
Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
Happiness
Anger, when it passes into the chronic form of Hatred, seeks its
satisfaction in Revenge. It is rather surprising to find such a calm
author as Professor Bain including revenge among the essentials of
happiness. In moments of anger the thirst for vengeance is keen, and
its gratification pleasant for the time; but from my own experience
and that of others whom I have asked, the vengeance which finally
appeases long hatred falls far short of affording the gratification we
expected, and is even associated with some dissatisfaction with self.
The game has not been worth the candle. The satisfaction is greater
when our enemy brings ruin on himself through the traits and acts we
abhor in him. We can then indulge in an unselfish joy in the
spectacle, as did the Israelites when the pride of the Pharaohs
was humbled by the consequences of their own arrogance and
stiff-neckedness.
The Imagination belongs to the emotional rather than the intellectual
faculties, as it has small regard for truth and casts on all things
the glamour of that light “which never was on sea or land.” Its
judicious cultivation adds to the higher enjoyments of life by lifting
the events and thoughts of our daily rounds into the mystic realm of
the ideal. It is cultivated by the perusal of works of poetry and
fiction, and by yielding to the sweet influences of music, song, and
the arts of pleasure. In the young it generally needs to be, not so
much curbed, as directed in the right road, and in the old to be
stimulated. The neglect of it so common in middle life is an unwise
preparation for those years which at the best can expect but scant
pleasure in watching the mirage of ideal anticipation.
Under the Esthetic Emotions we may class all those which arise from
the occupation with what is interesting or beautiful in nature or art.
They are perennial fonts of enjoyment to those who will cultivate them
in the right spirit――which is, to study them exclusively for the
pleasure they yield, and without ulterior aim of utility or didactic
purpose. True art acknowledges no allegiance either to utilitarianism
or morality――though it is never useless or immoral. Its right aim is
to excite within us the consciousness of ourselves by stirring our
imagination and feelings into agreeable activity. The emotions which
it inspires in the individual rise in value in proportion as they are
communicable to others, and thereby develop their contrast to the
pleasures of the senses, which are and always remain personal. On the
other hand, they differ from those of the intellect by their aim being
directed to exciting the faculties which are human. Their limits are
defined by these, while the intellect soars far beyond. In the
esthetic arts, Man is everything; all refers to him; in science he is
nothing, or, at most, a drop in the shoreless ocean of the Universe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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