Less Suffering, More Peace

We are constantly told that happiness is a right, a duty, and an accumulation of pleasures and successes. But what if this frantic race is precisely what prevents us from being at peace? In this text, the author deconstructs the modern myth of happiness to return to the wisdom of the ancient masters.

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Summary: We are constantly told that happiness is a right, a duty, and an accumulation of pleasures and successes. But what if this frantic race is precisely what prevents us from being at peace?

In this text, the author deconstructs the modern myth of happiness to return to the wisdom of the ancient masters. From Patanjali to the Buddha, by way of Jesus and Lao-Tzu, the secret has never been to add satisfactions, but to subtract suffering.

Discover how to transform your daily life, not by changing your life, but by changing your perspective:

• Understanding the logic of subtraction: Why "less" often means "more."

• Identifying the "poisons" of the mind: Ignorance, attachment, and the ego.

• Practicing simple contemplation: Rediscovering your natural state of consciousness, even in the midst of material difficulties.

Peace is not a distant destination; it is what remains when we finally stop cluttering ourselves.

Text

I often speak of true happiness and, when I do, it is a concession to those who hope for happiness. It is complicated to speak of happiness; everyone has their own definition of it; for some, it will be one thing, and for others, something else. Everyone sees happiness at their own doorstep. That is why I do not speak of happiness alone, but add the word "true."

The Lesson of History’s Sages

Is true happiness easier to explain? If we rely on what the ancient Eastern sages said, we find that they did not speak of happiness... did the Buddha, for example, speak of happiness? According to Western translations of books that supposedly report his words, he spoke of happiness, but, in truth, he spoke of the absence of pain (sukha).

Patanjali, an Indian known for the Yoga Sutras—a treatise on yoga—did not speak of happiness; he spoke of contentment, of well-being (santosha). He spoke of the attainment of a well-being to which nothing is superior (Anuttama Sukha-labha).

Krishna, another Indian of ancient times, in the Bhagavad Gita, does not speak of happiness either, but again of contentment, of sukha, which is not an emotion or a feeling, but a structural state of being.

Jesus did not speak of happiness; he spoke of joy, of bliss, and when the evangelists put the word "happiness" or "happy" in his mouth, it was to translate the Greek word "Makarios," which refers to being in a privileged position in the eyes of God. Jesus did not speak Greek but Aramaic, and he would say: "Ashray," which means: "to be straight on the path" or "to move forward."

Why We Chase a Utopia

As for Lao-Tzu, a Chinese contemporary of Confucius, not only did he not speak of happiness, but he regarded it as suspect. He advocated being "in conformity" with the Tao. Decidedly, ancient books dealing with spirituality did not speak of happiness as it is understood in the West. It is for this reason that I speak of "true happiness," of "satisfaction," "serenity," and "peace."

The idea that happiness is a "duty," an individual quest, and an inalienable right is a modern construction, born mainly in the 18th century. Saint-Just uttered this famous phrase in 1794: "Happiness is a new idea in Europe." Thus, ever since, humanity has chased this utopia while neglecting spirituality, which has always spoken not of happiness, but of fulfillment.

The Method of Subtraction

What I can tell you, in truth, is that man seeks not to suffer. The books I have mentioned deal with suffering and make the absence of suffering the goal of their teachings. Therefore, they did not speak of happiness, but of non-suffering.

It is suffering that we want to eliminate from our lives. True happiness would be a subtraction, whereas modern happiness is an addition. On one side, we remove something, suffering; on the other, we add things; it is the logic of consumption, whereas removing something is a logic of decrease.

The suffering I am speaking of here is mental, psychic, and spiritual suffering. I am not speaking of physical suffering due to injury or illness. Happiness—the true kind—would be not to suffer. To put it simply, not to suffer is to be at peace.

Identifying the Obstacles to Your Well-being

How do we not suffer? The motivation to no longer suffer is not incompatible with the modern concept of happiness. They are two different things: happiness is an accumulation of satisfactions, pleasures, and goods; fulfillment, the absence of suffering, is a subtraction. What do we subtract from our lives to no longer suffer? The afflictions.

Patanjali, in the Yoga Sutras, listed the five afflictions (klesha) that cause suffering: ignorance (the root of all others), egotism, attachment, aversion, and the fear of death.

The Buddha spoke of the Three Poisons: Greed (wanting to grasp, possess, and keep), Hatred (wanting to destroy, repel, and deny), and Delusion (mental confusion). These poisons are the fruits of fundamental, metaphysical ignorance—the fact of not seeing reality as it is. It is the root of all evils.

Changing Your Perspective Daily

We could work on uprooting each affliction, each poison within us, but we can also uproot ignorance itself. Once ignorance is uprooted, all other afflictions and poisons disappear. How do we uproot ignorance? Through knowledge. Here, knowledge is not "things" or learned information. The knowledge I am speaking of is that which comes through the "frequentation" of fundamental harmony.

This frequentation is achieved by changing one's priorities. If your priorities are to enjoy the pleasures of life and to accumulate possessions, then change them. That said, we must recognize that often, the priority for many is simply to ensure the basic needs of daily life: housing, transportation, food, paying debts, taxes, energy, etc.

At the very least, work on rediscovering a certain calm; do not ask yourself too many questions and stop devaluing yourself because you have difficulty meeting your needs and finding the means for leisure, vacations, and the children's education. You are not what you earn financially, and the system that confines you to simple survival is not your doing.

Do not listen to your thoughts or your emotions; seek to find calm and set aside moments of simple contemplation. Sitting on a bench in a park or on a lounge chair in your garden, closing your eyes, breathing calmly, and paying attention to your breath costs very little and can bring you much: a sensation of peace, coming from deep within you, is a true treasure that you can go look for as often as possible. Furthermore, this will release your diaphragm, which is good for stress.

When you feel this calm, in this kind of meditation I am speaking of, tell yourself that it is a natural state of consciousness in man and that one of the main goals of Eastern spiritualities and philosophies is to find this calm within and to make it last. So, set aside one of these moments every day, and you will see—you will begin to appreciate them and make them a daily routine.

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