Can poor people be more self-satisfied than the rich? What is the link between wealth and happiness? A World Value Survey of people in 65 nations, conducted recently by an international group of social scientists, concluded that the world's happiest people lived in Nigeria, followed by the people of Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico. People in America, who earn a lot and spend a lot in all sorts of expensive fripperies, ranked sixteenth. This conclusion defies conventional wisdom, reports Richard Ernsberger Jr. (Newsweek, July 26)

It is felt that the relationship between money and happiness is tricky. Happiness means different things to different people—some equate it with personal success and self-esteem, while others equate it with money. Daniel Kahneman, a Professor of economics at Princeton and co-winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize, says that "a person's happiness level doesn't simply rise with his bank account; the law of diminishing returns applies." How so?

The answer, it turns out, is that happiness can be a tantalizing but elusive goal—a ripe apple in a tree that's always just out of reach. "Aspirations rise with income," notes Kahneman, and successful people can be unhappy if they perceive others in their peer group to be even more successful. John Helliwell, a professort of happiness economics at the University of British Columbia, adds: "A lot of people think high levels of material satisfaction should produce happiness. They say, 'Gosh, I have everything and I'm not happy.' But of course they don't have everything."....

A century ago the French founder of modern sociology, Emile Durkheim, argued that both natural and man-made disasters were good for societal happiness, because they gave people a chance to capitalize on "potential relationships"—in other words, to make new friends.

Through the Gates of Gold which deals with the subject of true happiness in all its details, says that happiness is elusive and that nothing that is mundane and evanescent can give lasting peace or happiness. Thus:

There are certain pleasures which appeal to each individual; every man knows that in one layer or another of sensation he finds his chief delight. Naturally he turns to this systematically through life, just as the sunflower turns to the sun and the water-lily leans on the water. But...no sooner has he obtained his pleasure than he loses it again and has once more to go in search of it. More than that; he never actually reaches it, for it eludes him at the final moment. This is because he endeavours to seize that which is untouchable and satisfy his soul's hunger for sensation by contact with external objects. How can that which is external satisfy or even please the inner man,—the thing which reigns within and has no eyes for matter, no hands for touch of objects, no senses with which to apprehend that which is outside its magic walls? (p. 16)

The "law of diminishing returns" sets in when we try to repeat and intensify the pleasures. As Through the Gates of Gold suggests: "When a man drinks his first cup of pleasure, his soul is filled with the unutterable joy that comes with a first, a fresh sensation" (p. 23). But with every attempt to repeat and intensify this pleasure, we seem to add a drop of poison, till at last the whole cup is filled with poison. This is the ignorant desire for repetition and intensification.

Can genes make us? Conjoint twins, who shared the same genes and even part of their bodies, lived and died together. Yet, for nearly 29 years they had different aims and aspirations, wanted to take up different vocations, had different identities, a different self-concept and inner life. "Do genes and environment determine everything from body-type to personality, mentality and emotional life? Can genetic and environmental manipulation solve all problems of human life, from physical to psychological?" asks Dr. Alok Pandey, a psychiatrist (Namah, July 15). The answer is, perhaps, outside the purview of modern science—in the spiritual realm. Dr. Pandey writes:

After we have probed the chemicals and genes, after we have measured, labelled and typed every neural pathway and its corresponding emotion, we can turn deeper and further to learn the secret of both matter and mind. There lies the secret of human life and the solution to its paradox and mystery.

Who or what determines the personality, the family and the environment in which to take birth? It is the reincarnating Ego, under the laws of Karma and Reincarnation. Mr. Judge explains:

The first great result or Karmic action is the incarnation in physical life. The birth-seeking entity consisting of desires and tendencies, presses forward towards incarnation....It incarnates in those surroundings most in harmony with its Karmic tendencies, and all the effects of actions contained in the Karma so manifesting will be experienced by the individual. This governs the station of life, the sex, the conditions of the irresponsible years of childhood, the constitution with various diseases inherent in it, and in fact all those determining forces of physical existence which are ordinarily classed under the terms, "heredity," and "national characteristics." (U.L.T. Pamphlet No. 6, pp. 4-5)

Heredity provides the Ego with appropriate body and environment. Mr. Judge explains in The Ocean of Theosophy, that genes or heredity—transmission of trait and tendency by means of parent and body—is the mode selected by nature to provide the Ego with the appropriate tenement. The environment, the personality and the limitations imposed on the Ego are exact consequences of that Ego's actions in prior lives. Can we hold genes responsible for certain mental traits, peculiarities and leanings which we may have inherited from father or even great grandfather? Is heredity the cause of crime or virtue? "it is not a cause but only the means or instrument for the production of the effect, the cause being hidden deeper....Heredity is a puzzle and will always remain one so long as the laws of Karma and Reincarnation are not admitted and taken into account." (U.L.T. Pamphlet No. 9)

Are we really free? What is true freedom? We feel we are free because we can choose and make our own decisions. "Although we seem to make our own choices...internally, we are still controlled by the ego which creates desires based not on true needs but on societal influences....True freedom is when the desire to acquire something emanates not from the ego but from the true Self," writes Rajesh B. Gajabi. (The Times of India, July 15)

Freedom also means being able to break the moulds. "What does freedom cost you? Freedom will cost you the mask you have on, the mask that feels so comfortable and is so hard to shed, not because it fits so well but because you have been wearing it for so long," says Florida Donner.

True freedom may be looked upon as total absence of ego or false self. It is being able to expand our horizons and accept new ideas. Wayne Dyer says: "Freedom is the ability to leave the single room of awareness you were born in. In that room, you learned the limits of your life. Outside of that room you learn that your life has unlimited possibilities." Gajabi writes:

True Freedom lets your "individuality" bloom and helps you shed the "personality."...Once the ego collapses, true freedom is experienced. Then the whole universe appears as one....When a machine is well lubricated or oiled, an engineer or mechanic refers to the parts being "free," meaning they now have little or no friction in movement. Similarly, in true freedom, once the ego which causes friction is removed, the conscious mind comes in direct contact with the Universal Self in a smooth and almost effortless manner.

Man is a free agent during his stay on earth. However, "there are external and internal conditions which affect the determination of our will upon our actions," writes H.P.B. (Isis Unveiled, II, 593). We consider freedom from the traditional restraints and external authority as real freedom. Normally, our thinking and choices are influenced by society, family, education, religion, etc. We are free, but we have used that freedom to choose those things that have sanction of the majority around us. Mind becomes an "organ of free will" only when it becomes free from the influence of passions and desires. Thus:

"Mind"...or rather its lower reflection, which whenever it disconnects itself, for the time being, with kama, becomes the guide of the highest mental faculties, and is the organ of the free-will in physical man. (Raja-Yoga or Occultism, p. 64)

Mr. Crosbie points out:

The action of the will is through ideas. The ideas give the direction. Small ideas, small force; large ideas, large force; the Force itself is illimitable, for it is the force of Spirit, infinite and exhaustless. What we lack are universal ideas. (The Friendly Philosopher, p. 270)

A really free man listens to the prompting of his higher nature. He has unfolded his divinity to such an extent that he is able to live with other men and women without interfering with their lives. A truly free man is harmonized within and is able to live in harmony with others.

Of the five elements—earth, water, fire, air, akasa—fire is not only considered to be a cleanser but also it is the only element that never gets polluted or impure. There is both domestic and cosmic fire. What does fire symbolize?

It...represents in various forms the Eternal Light, the universal symbol of God—the ever-pure Supreme Being who removes all impurities of souls....

Most religious rituals, myths and spiritual concepts associated with fire are related to its role as a link between the sacred and the mundane worlds. Be it a candle symbolizing eternal light in a church or the red light that hangs before the Ark of Law in a synagogue, a sacrificial fire (yagna), or a butter lamp, the fire has been sanctified in all religions as a holy power that enlightens, purifies, transforms and dispels evil....

The ancient Persians revered fire as the living embodiment of Light and Good....

Agni was considered as the mouth and ears of gods and hence offerings to gods were made through fire. Earlier sages would carry along sacred fire wherever they went....

The element of fire is fundamental to the concept of life. The human being is a being of light, a spark of consciousness, a spiritual fire or a star that is wrapped up by a physical body made up of five elements. (Purity, August 2004)

"Of all the elements known to physical science, Fire is the one that has ever eluded definite analysis," writes H.P.B. (S.D., I, 120). Fire is the most mystic and most divine of the five elements, with several meanings even on our plane. We are asked to distinguish between the chemical, terrestrial and universal (or cosmic) elements. The universal elements are not confined to our Solar System and are the noumena of the terrestrial elements.

Theurgists and Rosicrucians regarded fire as the symbol of Deity. According to the Hindus, the Deity in the form of Æther pervades all things. The Rosicrucians regarded fire to be septenary like man—Spirit, Soul and Body, plus a fourfold aspect. Thus Fire contains a visible flame (Body); an invisible astral fire (Soul); and Spirit. "The four aspects are heat (life), light (mind), electricity (Karmic or molecular powers) and the Synthetic Essence, beyond Spirit, or the radical cause of its existence and manifestation." (The Theosophical Glossary)

Prometheus is supposed to have stolen the fire from heaven and brought it to earth. This refers to the process of lighting up of Manas in man, in human evolution. Prometheus also represents fire by friction. H.P.B. observes that the Promethean myth does not represent man's first discovering fire, as fire was never discovered but existed on earth, since the beginning. The Myth of Prometheus relates to the first opening of man's spiritual perception. (S.D., II, 523). The name Prometheus is derived from the Sanskrit word Pramantha, e.i., the instrument used for kindling the fire. In the Vedic sutras we are told that by rapidly turning the stick in the socket, first heat and then fire was produced. The stick was called Pramantha, the disc was called Arani. H.P.B. observes that in one sense Prometheus represents fire by friction, which cements Manas with Buddhi. (S.D., II, 413 and 524)

Yajna is defined in the Glossary:

The Yajna exists as an invisible presence at all times, extending from the Ahavaniya or sacrificial fire to the heavens, forming a bridge or ladder by means of which the sacrificer can communicate with the world of devas, "and even ascend when alive to their abodes." It is one of the forms of Akasa, within which the mystic WORD (or its underlying "Sound") calls it into existence.

Track two diplomacy, also known as citizens' diplomacy, started by Proferssor Edy Kaufman, is the tool used for conflict resolution within the country, as well as bilateral and multilateral conflicts between two or more countries, writes A. Venkata Narayana (Span, March-April, 2004). It is the technique of conflict resolution based on "transformation of the parties' perceptions and attitudes." Fundamentally, an attempt is made to build confidence and trust between the conflicting groups by showing that "they have more ideas in common and only a small percentage of disagreement." The aim is not to change ideologies, identities or basic values of the parties but have appreciation for others' point of view. Each party must educate itself and diagnose the real conflict. "There are many subjective ways of seeing the reality, which has different layers. The more we encourage the subjective view, the closer, perhaps, we are to finding solutions. This will provide an opportunity to the other side to listen about what you have to say," explains Professor Kaufman.

Light on the Path advises: "Learn to look intelligently into the hearts of men." Often, problems are apparently unsolvable because people refuse to consider another's point of view. But Mr. Judge says that in resolving a conflict, "never stop to think where they [others] are wrong. Everybody is always wrong somewhere; and, apart from that it would be easy enough to find their errors in your imagination." Elsewhere Mr. Judge writes: "Harmony comes from balancing of diversities, and discord from any effort to make harmony by force."

Mr. Crosbie points out that for the "league of nations" to be successful the nations involved must have a common aim and a like ideal, and that ideal should not be of trading, of gaining possessions or of getting advantage and prestige over other nations. "We need to educate, and first of all, we need to educate ourselves....Let us follow the lines of the law of our own being—compassion, love, helpfulness for all—and then we shall be able to understand ourselves and the natures of all others." (The Friendly Philosopher, p. 309)

There is That in every human being to be trusted—That which stands behind his human nature, the Witness, the Spectator, the Knower, the Judge, the Avenger of every thought and deed—noble or ignoble, pure or vile. That may be trusted. In That all Faith resides and comes to rest. It is the power which is exhaustless and eternal, the Power at any time to take a better course, when the old is exhausted, when the old has brought defeat, disgrace. However much my friend may betray me, I can have faith that some day, somewhere, he will repair the evil done to me and to all beings, however long ago. That is impartial; That expects nothing; That can not be added to nor taken from; It ever is, the Source of Faith.

—From the Book of Confidences