Health

How To Be Happy According To Ancient Wisdom

To live a successful and happy life today seems impossible when our modern world is corrupted by nihilism, but the answer to happiness can be found in classical and ancient wisdom.

By S.G. Cheah3 min read
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Adult Anxiety, Sadness, and Boredom

Modern life is a cacophony of negative energy. You can imagine what it feels like. Tune into Netflix and observe how most of the popular shows currently trending are predominantly topics about serial killers, crime, drug lords, and suicide. Audiences gravitate to that. The public cannot get enough. To say that sadism, criminality, and psychopathy sells is an understatement.

We live in a culture today that is both nihilistic and morally degenerate. Worse still is how we're encouraged to normalize human depravity and celebrate it as though it's the de facto preferable human behavior. Vulgarity, polyamory, and promiscuity are cool (of course), and if you disagree, you're labeled "hateful, regressive, judgmental, stuffy or intolerant."

Vulgarity, polyamory, and promiscuity are cool and if you disagree, you're labeled as hateful, regressive, judgmental, stuffy or intolerant.

I need not tell you this because you already know it to be true. You see how the prevailing cultural norm is geared towards destroying your sense of self and is therefore disastrous to your ability to be happy. The pursuit of being truly happy in the world today is by itself an uphill battle.

Wisdom and Knowledge are Your Saving Grace

Fortunately, the question of human happiness has been pondered by mankind for eons, ever since the beginning of our human civilization. Following in the tradition of Aristotle (who was the first thinker to lay out the importance of virtue towards attaining a life of happiness), we can employ the secrets to living a good life by tracing back to the wisdom of the ancients. This is something which modern society has seemingly forgotten.

The historical background of human thought and philosophy is far-reaching in its importance. It's understood that knowledge is power, and when you actively share in the knowledge possessed by generations of great thinkers from our past, you will hold in your mind the power of wisdom that will directly benefit your life.

When you actively share in the knowledge possessed by generations of great thinkers, you will hold in your mind wisdom that will directly benefit your life.

It's a big advantage to your own life if you can grasp the fundamental values of important universal truths. In order to understand the power of these truths, you must first understand the destructive nature of its opposition - postmodernist thought.
This is especially true in today's destructive postmodernist world. Postmodernism is dangerous because it's rooted in the idea that there is no fundamental truth and thus nothing can be fully understood.

Destructive Malice from Evading Thinking and Rejecting Reality

You tend to hate the obstacles in life that you don't understand. When someone can't understand why the world around them works in the way that it does, it's possible they will turn that hate towards reality itself. People with this hatred of reality refuse to accept existence for what it is and thus seek to destroy it.

Consequently, these people are drawn to nihilism because being nihilistic approves of their desire to destroy existence. The worst evils in the world are committed by people who hate all of existence.

The worst evils in the world are committed by people who hate all of existence.

We can see this in action when we observe those who ran away to join ISIS, either as terrorist fighters or brides. Being radicalized since a young age by outrageous fanaticism destroys a person's ability to think rationally.

The lack of logic, reason, and rationality promoted their hatred of Western culture. They do not understand how Western civilization could thrive and be successful when they, on the other hand, struggle to be in control of their own lives. Their inability to understand Western thoughts and values is the basis of their hatred of the West - thus they seek to destroy it.

Gather Knowledge and Apply Wisdom to Your Life To Be Happy

You need not go down this route of nihilism and hatred of reality. We possess the tool for gaining knowledge. Aristotle (the Father of Logic) discovered the method of reason to be the source of all human knowledge. He identified the highest human good to be intellectual virtue because true happiness lies in the active life of a rational being. In order for you to be happy and live a life that is proper for a human, you need knowledge and truth, and you can gain the correct knowledge only from understanding reality.

In order for you to be happy and live a life that is proper for a human, you need knowledge and truth, and you can gain the correct knowledge only from understanding reality.

Knowledge is power because thinking rationally will help you understand the world around you. The wisdom you gain by being informed will significantly increase your chances to live a happy life with success and esteem.

Closing Thoughts

Women were always associated with wisdom and knowledge in ancient times. This is unlike today, where women are assumed to be more emotional and less concerned with "the toxicity of cold, heartless logic." For instance, one of the most important Ancient Greek deities is Athena, and she is the Goddess of Wisdom (in contrast, it was the male god Dionysus that was associated with the lower instincts and whims). It pays to take this lesson from history because wisdom and knowledge will serve us well.