24 December 2005

Pure bliss and the speed of light

We want to be happy; that's clear. What we mean by "happy," however, is less so. I follow those such as the Dalai Lama who would suggest that true happiness is really contentment. Others may wish happiness to be a state of continual bliss. To wish for this kind of happiness is like wishing to travel at the speed of light: it can't be done and is not worth aspiring to.

Those who see real happiness as a state of continual bliss are only asking for trouble. They see all suffering, great or small, as a problem -- something that shouldn't be. If one suffers, there is something wrong. Therefore, one's life is not a good one.

Wishing for a life of continual bliss is as impossible as trying to travel at the speed of light because only light can travel at the speed of light. When an object travels at a fast speed it gains mass. As Hawking notes in explaining Einstein's Theory of Relativity, an object gains 0.5 percent more mass when traveling at 10 percent of the speed of light and twice its mass when traveling at 90 percent of the speed of light. If the object is to increase its speed, it must increase its energy output. This increased speed would thus increase the object's mass, which would require even more energy to push it faster -- and so on. If the object were to reach the speed of light, its mass would have become infinite, which would require infinite energy. Light can travel as fast as it does because it has no intrinsic mass.

Similarly, though the two ideas do not work at parallels (for I don't necessarily believe that the happier one becomes, the more problems one will have), I would challenge anyone to find a person, or to declare oneself a person, without suffering of any kind -- that life is constantly lived on the crest of a wave. Those who believe they live in such a way are merely focusing on the crest and will eventually descend into its trough, focusing entirely on it. The resultant and inevitable depressed state would surely undermine any claims to happiness as a continued state of bliss.

Those who always live on the crest of a wave don't exist. Though it's not scientific, you can test the validity of such an existence on yourself now. Say to yourself, "I want a life without any problems." Don't you sound ridiculous?

Those who are content are satisfied with their lives, regardless of the ups and downs. They are not without ecstacy, but in fact experience quite a bit of it. The key difference is this: those who are content see suffering as much a part of life as joy. As a result, those who suffer can still be happy.

Perhaps we'll never be able to travel at the speed of light, but I'll still appreciate being able to go pretty damn fast.

back

Copyright © 2002-2012 by Charles Ian Chun