I just finished a strange book by Richard Powers, called "Generousity". It is a novel, but circles around the idea of what happiness is, for us humans. But it tackles how much of our disposition is genetic, how much environment, and how much is our own will. It's pretty gripping. I will be thinking about it for a long time. Of course, the definition of happiness is key, and if the cultural definition is all we grab onto, then we're going to sink like a stone. But if happiness is a moment to moment awareness of the preciousness of life, and joy in aliveness, we can have quite a bit of that if we are lucky enough to not be burdened with a chemical imbalance. When we were watching the PBS film on Jefferson, I thought of the phrase "Pursuit of Happiness" and how it has been interpreted. The emphasis should be on pursuit, and not happiness. Because maybe some people feel they'll be happy rampaging with a rifle, and others exploiting small children. How do you guarantee pursuit? Perhaps you attempt to equalize opportunity and avoid the class system, or leave people free to make their own choices where possible. But could the Founding Fathers have imagined the world we live in and its pursuits? I doubt it.
I'd have liked to have seen a Declaration of Independence that acknowledged prominently the interdependence of human beings, and respect for all life. I believe the Constitution struggled to describe that world, but was not specific enough. So we go around in this country with the myth of independence, and the posturing, and the destructive results of that posturing. Which gets back to generousity of spirit, and communal will. I'd like to see more pursuit of that.
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