For thousands of years humans have been concerned with figuring out what it means to live the “good life”.  The earliest philosophical texts from ancient China and Greece are focused on this question, and this question has occupied philosophers and thinkers from antiquity up to our modern day. We have libraries filled with hundreds and thousands of self-help books that each purport to have the answer to our happiness and fulfillment, but most of them are just cleverly disguised attempts at marketing another quick fix.  The great thing about having a wealth of literature on living the “good life” is that we can look for similar lessons, patterns, and themes that transcend time, culture, and place. When we look at what philosophy, science, and religion have to say about living the “good life" we find that happiness and fulfillment don't come through quick fixes or new age spiritual technologies.  Living the “good life” is relatively simple, but it isn’t easy; it requires effort, focus, and commitment.

Living a happy, fulfilled life doesn’t require complex doctrines, esoteric rituals, or magical mythologies.  When we look at the research on happiness and resilience, we notice that there are several key findings that seem to be held in common between cultures, philosophies, and religions. First of all, an individual needs to have a basic code of ethical conduct that helps them make decisions about how they should behave. Second,  an individual needs meaningful social connections that helps them feel safe and supported. Finally, an individual needs to be physically and mentally “active".  Each of these elements are necessary for living a fulfilled, happy, and resilient life.

To begin with, I think it makes sense to lay some foundational principles with regards to ethics.  For many people it is difficult to separate religion from ethics and in many cases religious people argue that without  a belief in god there can be no guidance for what it means to be good.  When a person declares that he/she is an atheist  there is an assumption that they have somehow lost their moral compass, but nothing could be further from the truth. When we examine all of the major religions in the world we can see that they all share some common rules that seem to transcend religious differences, regardless of whether they are monotheistic (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism), polytheistic (Taoism, Shintoism, Hinduism, or tribal religions), or atheistic (Buddhism, Jainism, other neopagan religions).  If we examine the core tenets of these belief systems, and remove veneration of the god(s) and their arbitrary rules regarding worship, we see that most are based upon a similar foundation that includes two fundamental ethical principles: 1) honesty/truthfulness and 2) treating others as you would like to be treated (the “Golden Rule”). 

These transcendent principles of trust/truthfulness and the "Golden Rule” are the foundation of an ethical life.  Although they are simple in theory, our collective history demonstrates that even after thousands of years, we still struggle with putting these principles into practice.  At the risk of seeming naive and reductionist, I would argue that trust and treating others kindly is all that is required for an individual and a society to flourish.  Our modern societal upheaval in the U.S. is a perfect illustration of what happens when people lose their trust in others and don’t feel a responsibility to treat others kindly.  In fact, our current President, continues to erode trust by calling truth lies and lies the truth and he continues to demonstrate an appalling lack of simple kindness for anyone who doesn’t blindly kowtow to his capricious whims.  His example and the outsized voice of his followers has led to a slow erosion of trust and kindness in the U.S. and the effects of this breach of moral responsibility is reflected in the protests, conflict, and general dysfunction that we see in the daily news.

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing a series of posts that investigates these principles, and how they contribute to our physical, mental, and spiritual health.  My hope is that this series will be helpful as we continue to navigate the postmodern nightmare that our world has become.  The lack of trust, the ocean of disinformation, and the unabashed hatred and vitriol that we see in the news on a daily basis has pushed everyone’s mental and spiritual health to the breaking point and I think it is time that we take some time to revisit some of the fundamental science and philosophical principles required to live a “good”, ethical life.