Happiness Is

By batsman 

Happiness like love is many things. Children are the symbolic icons of happiness – full of life and laughter and this makes for good advertising copy or movie themes. But if happiness is many things, the happiness of children is exactly what it is – the happiness of children. Adults should not adopt this image for themselves. Adult happiness is not just the happiness of children. Adult happiness must be much more.

Happiness must come from within. If happiness does not come from within, it can only come from external source/s. But if an adult were to depend on external sources for happiness, I think such an adult has never stopped being a child. Worse, such an adult is like a cow or sheep or even sycophantic bureaucrat. 

Children are born with a basic innate capacity for happiness, but as the child depends on the care of the parent/s for survival and guidance, this innate happiness is not fully developed yet. The child must develop in a step by alternate step manner – external influences touching upon innate character building and so on in smaller and smaller cycles until adulthood. The tragic thing is, in modern times, such cycles never become smaller, but actually grow larger to the extent that the adult becomes almost entirely dependent on external sources such as wealth, power, status, the adulation of others, the love of others or even endless lust or satisfaction of the sensory organs for temporary happiness (as in sex perverts or drug addicts until the next fix). 

Adults who have no inner happiness and must depend on others for happiness not only have no soul but would appear to be in deep trouble. They therefore have a many fold increase in the capacity to cause others unhappiness compared to those adults who are content in themselves. Their emptiness is like an enormous vacuum that sucks in the lives of all around them, a black hole that does not even permit any light to escape. 

This does not mean however that people can remain happy regardless of the condition of their external circumstances. We don’t live in isolation of each other. We are social creatures as well as individuals. Our external circumstances (just as some people) can cause us great grief, but for people with inner capacity for happiness, it returns the moment the cause of such grief is removed. This is not so for people with an external dependency for happiness, grief is retained in the mind even if the cause for it has been removed physically just as desire or lust remains in the mind even if such desire has been satisfied. Desire and lust becomes permanent. On the other extreme, dependency on subsidies is also permanent. 

For such persons with permanent lust and desire, they dream up endless excuses or projects to seize upon their victim’s attention, time, labour and complete subservience as well as other people’s ability to be independent productive individuals. Thus in the financial field, one Ponzi scheme, derivative or hedge fund is dreamt up after the other, even as these instruments have been proven to be capable of bringing the world to its knees. 

On the other extreme, those who become addicted to social security never seem to be able to climb out of their dependence even if the handicap or weakness has been removed. They manufacture excuses after excuses to continue to receive subsidies. 

Those in the middle who are essentially capable of generating some modicum of inner happiness must suffer the antics and assaults of those in the extremes whose lust and dependency have become permanent fixtures in their character and lives i.e. of those adults who have not outgrown themselves as children and constantly demand attention and goodies. 

Most people can think of very specific examples of such phenomenon of permanent lust and permanent dependency in their personal experiences. In the national arena we see projects such as Malaysia Boleh growing into Vision 2020 and now into 1Malaysia, at the same time the DEB is made a permanent fixture in national life without outgrowing its childhood and turning into a more mature and more appropriate adult policy. 

As if to rub in the salt, 1Malaysia comes up with its 8 principles that are designed to breed Malaysians into cows and sheep or subservient citizens serving only the lords and masters efficiently. Of the 8 principles, none actually encourage Malaysians to be leaders, competitive, dynamic and builders of personal empires. All encourage Malaysians to be followers and sheep. 

How is it then that there can be real leaders from among Malaysians? I suppose this question is one that is not shouted but whispered in dark corners. Malaysians are only fit to produce profits and taxes if they have skills, or if they have no productive skills they may depend on the government and become bureaucrats, policemen, MACC officers or judges. The leaders in the meantime are born into their positions or receive crony-appointment from the high and mighty. 

Thus while our lusty leaders promote 1Malaysia, they also assault others as traitors of their own race, thus making nonsense of their policy of 1Malaysia. Is it going to be 1Malaysia or each race for itself? 

Such hypocrisy is born of the arrogance of black hole characters – those who suck even the light of reason from escaping and becoming free to incite Malaysians with hatred for evil and injustice, Malaysians who have become adults capable of generating their own inner happiness but whose environment has become monopolized and corrupted by evil and sin, whose own inner happiness is thus threatened by those who are unable to find some happiness for themselves, but who must make others unhappy to be happy. 

And it is not as if such people who have empty voids within themselves are stupid people. Realizing that voters have become inured to promises of development before elections (except maybe in Sabah and Sarawak), realizing that voters no longer fall victim to gifts of money, computers, rural clinics, kampong roads and bridges, etc., they now offer promises of reviewing the ISA, reviewing laws that ban mass assemblies or protests, etc. 

They have even relaxed the DEB rules on several economic sectors, although I think this is not so much due to internal pressure as external pressure – the EU and US have been vocal against DEB rules with regard to keeping out foreigners from tender exercises, etc and putting obstacles in free trade and services. 

So while they relax DEB rules, it is not so much as to allow Malaysians to be more dynamic and competitive, it is actually to allow big time foreign sharks to join the fray. All the while Malaysians are kept content and blissful with subsidies. To me, this is like a policy specially designed to be disastrous. 

So while it is a good thing to be able to generate happiness from within, too much ability to do this also means ignoring danger signals and accepting the capacity of others for corruption and incompetence. It means the acceptance of our environment being poisoned by evil and sin and eventually our country and society turning into failed state and failed society. 

I strongly suggest putting in some effort to build a healthy 2 party political system with effective checks and balances as well as neutral and professional civil service, police and judiciary.