THE CONCEPT
"Wellness is an awareness of the eternity."
*!**!**!**!**!**!**!* THE BODY *!**!**!**!**!**!**!*
“The human body is the best picture of the human soul.”
"The human body occupies an ambiguous, even a paradoxical role in cultural categorizations — from the cosmologies of the archaic societies to the concepts and practices of modern Western civilization.
It is the most obvious and familiar visible ‘thing’ perceived and yet tends to disappear in the very act of perception of, or relation to, the outside world.
The ambiguous nature of the body may be formulated in a number of binary oppositions. The body is both the Same and the Other; both a subject and an object of practices and knowledge; it is both a tool and a raw material to be worked upon. The body appears to oscillate between presence and absence, most paradoxically in intense feelings — feelings as sensations and feelings as emotions. The body seems to be simultaneously the subject of highly articulated utterance and yet at perpetual risk of disappearing from our awareness.
Less obviously, however, it may be detected in the basic scheme by which the order of the outside world is related to that of the inside in the macrocosm–microcosm model which has been so central in Western cultural tradition since Greek antiquity.
From the start, the human body as a topic of both religious and philosophical thought has been structured in terms of distinction and difference — which derives from the very intellectual act of defining the body as an object of knowledge. Thinking about the body necessarily implies a vantage point which lies outside the body and is not identical with it."
*!**!**!**!**!**!**!* THE MIND *!**!**!**!**!**!**!*
“When you become the master of your mind, you are master of everything.”
"Mind refers to the aspects of intellect and consciousness manifested as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagination, including all of the brain's conscious and unconscious cognitive processes. "Mind" is often used to refer especially to the thought processes of reason. Subjectively, mind manifests itself as a stream of consciousness.
Pre-scientific theories, based in theology, concentrated on the relationship between the mind and the soul, the supernatural, divine or god-given essence of the person. Modern theories, based on scientific understanding of the brain, theorize that the mind is a product of the brain and has both conscious and unconscious aspects.
The question of which attributes make up the mind is also much debated. Some argue that only the "higher" intellectual functions constitute mind: particularly reason and memory. Others argue that the rational and the emotional sides of the human person cannot be separated, that they are of the same nature and origin, and that they should all be considered as part of the individual mind.
In popular usage mind is frequently synonymous with thought. It is that private conversation with ourselves that we carry on "inside our heads." Thus we "make up our minds," "change our minds" or are "of two minds" about something. One of the key attributes of the mind in this sense is that it is a private sphere to which no one but the owner has access. No-one else can "know our mind." They can only interpret what we consciously or unconsciously communicate."
*!**!**!**!**!**!**!* THE SOUL *!**!**!**!**!**!**!*
“Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are.”
“The nonphysical aspect of a human being, considered responsible for the functions of mind and individual personality and often thought to live on after the death of the physical body.”
“The early Christian philosophers adopted the Greek concept of the soul's immortality and thought of the soul as being created by God and infused into the body at conception.”
“The human soul is naturally and essentially immortal; it is uncreated and eternal.”
According to Bhagwat Geeta, “the soul, or atman, is indestructible and eternal (2.18). It neither slays, nor can it be slain (2.19). It is never, born and it never dies. After coming into existence, it never ceases to be. It is nitya (always), sasvatah (permanent) and purana (very ancient) (2.20). It does not suffer, nor can it be tainted. At the time of death it does not die, but leaves the body and enters a new one (2.22). Weapons cannot pierce it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot moisten it and wind cannot dry it (2.23). It is impenetrable, incombustible, all pervading, stable and immobile (2.24). It is invisible, imperceptible and immutable (2.25).”
*!**!**!**!**!**!**!*EUDAIMONIA*!**!**!**!**!**!**!*
“The ultimate end of human acts is eudaimonia, happiness in the sense of living well, which all men desire; all acts are but different means chosen to arrive at it.”
The term EUDAIMONIA is etymologically based in the Greek words eu (good) and daimon (spirit).
EUDAIMONIA describes the notion that living in accordance with one's daimon, which we take to mean character and virtue, leads to a good life.
EUDAIMONIA IS HAPPINESS. EUDAIMONIA IS WELL BEING
ARISTOTLE
“Well-being is not so much an outcome or end state as it is a process of fulfilling or realizing one’s daimon or true nature-that is, of fulfilling one’s virtuous potentials and living as one was inherently intended to live''
Eudaimonia is the highest human good, the only human good that is desirable for its own sake (as an end in itself) rather than for the sake of something else (as a means toward some other end).
Aristotle conceives Happiness and Well-Being as an intermediate or golden mean. Further he talks of rational activity in pursuit of virtue itself.
Aristotle believes in the rational virtuous pursuit.
PLATO
Virtue is the basis of Eudaimonia - ethics being the cornerstone.
That is to say, Eudaimonia - happiness or well-being, is the highest aim of moral thought and conduct and the virtues are the requisite skills and dispositions needed to attain it
Basics of Eudaimonia are:
Temperance or self –regulation
Courage or fortitude
Justice as a social consciousness
Wisdom in the pursuit of knowledge
SOCRATES
EUDAIMONIA is the ultimate goal.
Socrates emphasized the role and importance of arête.
Arete is both - the MEANS and END to human happiness·
Socrates is convinced that virtues such as self-control, courage, justice, piety, wisdom and related qualities of mind and soul are absolutely crucial if a person is to lead a good and happy (eudaimon) life. Virtues guarantee a happy life Eudaimonia.
BHAGAVAD GEETA
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THREE TYPES OF HAPPINESS
In Chapter 18, Verse 36 Sri Krishna says to Arjun,
“sukhaṁ tv idaniṁ tri-dhaṁ shrinu me bharatarshabha
abhyasad ramate yatra duhkhantam cha nigachchhati”
Translation:
“And now hear from me, O Arjun, of the three kinds of happiness in which the embodied soul rejoices, and can even reach the end of all suffering.”
1. SATVIK OR PURE HAPPINESS:
It is the happiness that arises from the elevation of the soul. However, attaining this is not easy. One pursuing satvik or pure happiness has to practice a lot of discipline. That is why, it feels like poison in the beginning but nectar in the end.
“yat tad agre viham iva pariname mitopamam
tat sukham sattvikam proktam atma-buddhi-prasada-jam”
Translation:
“That which seems like poison at first, but tastes like nectar in the end, is said to be happiness in the mode of goodness. It is generated by the pure intellect that is situated in self-knowledge.”
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 37
2. RAJSIK OR RESULT ORIENTED HAPPINESS:
This is the materialistic pleasure that is derived when the senses come in contact with external objects that create a feeling of gratification. However, this kind of happiness is temporary.
“vishayendriya-sanyogad yat tad agre mritopamam
pariname visham iva tat sukham rajasam smritam”
Translation:
“Happiness is said to be in the mode of passion when it is derived from the contact of the senses with their objects. Such happiness is like nectar at first but poison at the end.”
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 38
3. TAMASIC OR SLOTHFUL HAPPINESS:
This is the lowest form of happiness and is derived from sleeping or being lazy. The soul is never nurtured through these practices yet since there is a tiny sense of pleasure associated with it, people wrongfully consider it to be a state of happiness.
“yad agre chanubandhe cha sukham mohanam atmanah
nidralasya-pramadottha tat tamasam udahritam”
Translation:
“That happiness which covers the nature of the self from beginning to end, and which is derived from sleep, indolence, and negligence, is said to be in the mode of ignorance.”
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 39.
One can derive true happiness only by achieving a peaceful state of mind.
There is no greater happiness than the happiness one gets from being at peace with oneself and being one with God.
EUDAIMONIC WELL BEING
“Quality of life derived from the development of a person’s best potential and their application in the fulfillment of personally expressive, self-concordant goals”
Perceived development of unique potentials
Using potentials to fulfill your life goals
A sense of meaning and purpose in life
Enjoyment derived from activities that are personally expressive.
Intense involvement.
Knowing who you are.
EUDAIMONIA HAPPINESS
Conceptualize and operationalize the concept.
Operationalize to measure human experience.
Be distinctive to other happiness / well-being concepts.