The Pursuit of Happiness

Greetings,

Just a few days ago, there was this fasinating documentary on discovery channel. It was about the malleable human mind. At the time when I chanced upon the documentary, it was talking about the cause of maniac depression and the use of prozac, an anti-depressant.

An interesting question was popped, If prozac elevates depression, does over dose make a person happy? The researchers said no, and that they were not at the moment researching on any drug that can give a person the feeling of happiness. Which brings to mind, if such a drug is actually possible, what horrendous consequences would that bring? If the purpose of life is the pursuit of happiness, wouldnt that breed a society of perpetual pill-poppers?

Yet that is what happiness truly is when it manifests. A chemical reaction in the brain. Lack of a certain reaction, and you get depression. No matter how unjustified or advised, how religiously trained or mentally conditioned, it still boils down to the chemical reactions.

The documentary continues and tells about how the brain interpretes happiness. It is known that whenever we experience a sense of joy, there is increased brain activity in the left side of our brain. The more happy we are, the further back is the activity on the left side. What this suggest is that, the happiest person on earth, is probably a senior tibetan monk. Scientist conducted a MRI scan on the brain of meditating monks and discover that during meditation, the brain activity was not only on the left side, but further back than everybody else that was tested.

Infact, monks who practised meditation for years were so trained into controlling their minds, that by simply asking them to think of compassion, love, peace, they can dramatically shift the area of brain activity which is something that surprised the neurologists themselves.

In an attempt to test the powers of meditation, an experiment was conducted with 2 groups of volunteers from different walks of urban life. 1 group was to simply live their lives as per normal but to recieve MRI scans periodically. The other group, was sent on a regular 3 month long course on meditation where they learnt how to meditate. Results showed that the group which practise meditation, showed marked differences in brain activity compared to the control group. They had more activity further back on the left side of their brains. They were more happy, so to speak.

That the human mind, as is with the body, can be physically moulded by practice even if for just a short time, just as an athelete can mould his body is also shown in another study. London taxi drivers. Taxi drivers given brain scans by scientists at University College London had a larger hippocampus compared with other people. This is a part of the brain associated with navigation in birds and animals. The scientists also found part of the hippocampus grew larger as the taxi drivers spent more time in the job.

Throughout most of our lives, we tend to be taught to seek and pursuit happiness as an ultimate, sanctified and sacred purpose. It is a concept constantly preached by religious leaders and politicians alike. Yet now it is slowly being revealed that 'happiness' is actually more tangible, more malleable then we had ever previously thought. If the pursuit of happiness is the ultimate purpose in life, shouldnt we all start living in seclusion to meditate? Or develop a divine 'happiness' pill?