“Not so much a self-help, path-to-bliss book (I've read more than my fair share of those, to no avail) as a calm, studied reflection on the concept of happiness -- historically, philosophically, economically -- and its underlying problem, namely The Paradox. This being the argument that to be happy you need to answer two competing, seemingly self-conflicting questions, 'what do I want?' and 'how should I live?'
The main thrust of the whole book is the view that to be happy we want two things. We want to be able to do whatever the hell we want, we want to be free, creative, unrestrained, free from responsibility and criticism. And yet we also want to be liked, to feel justified, to be applauded by people whose opinions we care about, to be cheered, not jeered.
Happiness equals having both, it seems. But how is this possible? To have either one stops you getting the other, surely. As I said above, this isn't a self-help book, so there's no easy answer, no 10-step program. But the path to follow seems to be one that gets you to where you want to be only once you stop wanting to get there. A paradox.
Good fun, though. Reminds me of that buddhist line about suffering being caused by desire, so one's natural reaction is to desire being free from desire. Don't worry about wanting this, or not wanting that. Just start where you are and simply 'be'.”
terrym wrote this review Monday, February 18 2008.
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