The Pursuit of Happiness
Life, liberty and property.
Those were the natural rights identified by John Locke in his “Second Treatise on Governement” penned in 1689.
And according to some, property wasn’t exactly meant to be taken as literal either.
Property…here, some scholars would argue, is ownership of oneself.
The ability to take your life into your own hands and make something of it if you so pleased because that life belonged to you.
You owned it. You were your own property.
Our own founding father Thomas Jefferson was influenced by this very idea when he scribed that we were endowed with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Considering this was included in the Declaration of Independence it makes sense why Jefferson swapped the word “property” for “pursuit of happiness” at least it makes a bit of sense to me.
It would have been hard to argue that every human had the right to life, liberty, and property in a time when humans were enslaving other humans and white females were second-class citizens.
It’s an easier argument to make that we have the right to the pursuit of happiness.
And here is the genius of Jefferson’s words: you don’t have the right to happiness.
You have the right to THE PURSUIT OF IT.
I’ve been thinking about that so much lately.
I’ve been beating myself up for being unhappy, or unsatisfied, restless even.
You know what I mean when you try to articulate some sort of dissatisfaction or disappointment most (not all) of your friends will try to redirect you by pointing out all the things you should be grateful for. How your life now compares to some darker time and is so much better that to have this feeling is ridiculous, illogical, nonsensical...
So maybe you swallow it down. Because who are you to look around and think, there’s gotta be more, I want more, is there more?
I’ll tell you who you are. Human.
I’d argue that it is UNNATURAL not to.
Ask yourself, when do you feel most alive?
Is it when you’re in the pursuit of something?
When you’ve thrown yourself into something you’re passionate about?
When you’ve owned your past, are unapologetically present, and are deliberately creating a future that brings you joy?
The outcome isn’t guaranteed anyway.
And this is a concept that as a yogi/Buddhist I’m comfortable with now because when we release the attachment we have to outcomes one of two things happen:
You don’t try because you’re not sure what’s going to happen.
you say “f**k it, it’ll be what it will be” and go all in and all out.
In the first reaction the outcome although unknown is guaranteed because you DIDNT EVEN TRY.
But in the second, who knows how it will end? It could be awesome, it could be awful. But what is the point in making half attempts? Or settling for good enough effort?
We would not accept this at all from athletes. And yet so many of us in our daily lives, wake up, do the job, eat, sleep, wake up, do the job, eat, sleep, wake up.
Wake up.
Happiness isn’t a grand prize that awaits all of us just because. The idea of happiness just happening has become the proverbial participation ribbon in the journey of self-actualization.
You have to pursue it. You have to DO something about it. You can’t WAIT for it. Or WISH for it.
Pursuit implies action, and yet so many of us don’t act we wait...
For the stars to align
For a specific person
For a certain amount of money
A different job
A gold medal
We wait...when we need to PURSUE the things we dream about.
It’s the only chance any of us have at having anything worth having.
And don’t feel guilty for your pursuit.
Don’t carry the burden of making everyone understand it.
Own your self.
And exercise your natural, inalienable right to the pursuit.