Happiness Is a Serious Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual - Softcover

Prager, Dennis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060987359 ISBN 13: 9780060987350

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 1998

Synopsis

Happiness, says Prager, is a serious problem. This is because the single greatest obstacle to happiness is insatiable human nature itself. But though lasting happiness is profoundly difficult to achieve, it is not impossible. Now, with his insightful and explosive new work "Happiness Is a Serious Problem, " an extension of his world-famous lectures, Prager gives readers the powerful new tools they need to make happiness a reality in their own lives.

"Happiness Is a Serious Problem" contains many life-changing insights, including the idea that the only people we know who are happy are people we don't know well; the fact that being happy is usually seen as a selfish goal but that we have a moral obligation to the people in our lives to pursue it; and that unhappiness is really the difference between our perceptions and our reality. By changing our reality or reducing our expectations, happiness becomes easily realizable. Humorous, accessible and penetrating, "Happiness Is a Serious Problem" shows that when happiness is treated with the same level of seriousness that people bring to life's other tasks, it becomes immediately more tangible and thus achievable.

About this title

About the Author

Dennis Prager writes a syndicated column, hosts a radio show carried by 120 stations, and appears regularly on major Fox venues. He is the author of Happiness Is a Serious Problem and Think a Second Time.

From the Back Cover

We are completely satisfied with nothing

There is little correlation between the circumstances of people's lives and how happy they are.

This is the repair manual we should have been handed at birth

When you ask people abouttheir most cherished values in life, "happiness" is always at the top of the list. However, unhappiness does not seem to be the exceptional order to be happy, we first have to battle ourselves.

Happiness is an obligation--to yourself and to others

Not only do we have a right to be happy, we have an obligation to be happy. Our happiness has an effect on the lives of everyone around us--it provides them with a positive environment in which to thrive and to be happy themselves.

From the Inside Flap

We are completely satisfied with nothing

There is little correlation between the circumstances of people's lives and how happy they are.

This is the repair manual we should have been handed at birth

When you ask people abouttheir most cherished values in life, happiness is always at the top of the list. However, unhappiness does not seem to be the exceptional order to be happy, we first have to battle ourselves.

Happiness is an obligation--to yourself and to others

Not only do we have a right to be happy, we have an obligation to be happy. Our happiness has an effect on the lives of everyone around us--it provides them with a positive environment in which to thrive and to be happy themselves.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Happiness Is a Serious Problem

A Human Nature Repair ManualBy Prager, Dennis

ReganBooks

Copyright © 2004 Dennis Prager
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0060987359

Happiness Is a Moral Obligation

We tend to think that we owe it to ourselves to be as happy as we can be. And this is true. But happiness is far more than a personal concern. It is also a moral obligation.

After one of my talks on happiness, a woman in the audience stood up and said, "I only wish my husband had come to this talk." (He had chosen to attend a talk on business instead.) She explained that he was the unhappy one in their relationship and that much as she loved him, it was not easy being married to an unhappy person.

This woman enabled me to put into words what I had been searching for--the altruistic, in addition to the obvious personal, reasons to take happiness seriously. I told the woman and the audience that she was right; her husband should have attended the talk because he had a moral obligation to his daily partner in life to be as happy as he could be.

Upon a moment's reflection, this becomes obvious. We owe it to our husband or wife, our fellow workers, our children, our friends, indeed to everyone who comes into our lives, to be as happy as we can be. This does not mean acting unreal, and it certainly does not mean refraining from honest and intimate expressions of our feelings to those closest to us. But it does mean that we owe it to others to work on our happiness. We do not enjoy being around others who are usually unhappy. Those who enter our lives feel the same way. Ask a child what it was like to grow up with an unhappy parent, or ask parents what pain they suffer if they have an unhappy child (of any age).

There is a second reason why happiness is a moral obligation. In general, people act more decently when they are happy. The chapter on seeking goodness explains the connection between goodness and happiness at length. It will suffice here to answer this: Do you feel more positively disposed toward other people and do you want to treat other people better when you are happy or when you are unhappy?

There is yet a third reason. I once asked a deeply religious man if he considered himself a truly pious person. He responded that while he aspired to be one, he felt that he fell short in two areas. One of those areas, he said, was his not being a happy enough person to be considered truly pious.

His point was that unhappy religious people reflect poorly on their religion and on their Creator. He was right; in fact, unhappy religious people pose a real challenge to faith. If their faith is so impressive, why aren't these devoted adherents happy? There are only two possible reasons: either they are not practicing their faith correctly, or they are practicing their faith correctly and the religion itself is not conducive to happiness. Most outsiders assume the latter reason. Unhappy religious people should therefore think about how important being happy is--if not for themselves, then for the sake of their religion. Unhappy, let alone angry, religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than do all the arguments of atheists.Continues...

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Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060987359
• ISBN 13: 9780060987350
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192