Day of Food was, of course, super. Although being completely honest, I was horrendously hungover and so as much as I'd love to report a day of glowing health, frolicking between chicken salads and banana smoothies, I mostly dribbled cereal and stuffed (quite frankly incredible) pizza into my mouth.
Today's post is entirely based around ONE FREAKY FACT I discovered yesterday. I walk, on an almost DAILY basis, past THIS cabinet containing AN ACTUAL BODY. Yes, this is Jeremy Bentham, the 19th century philosopher. This is he! Actually him! Oh god I feel sick. I always thought it was a wax model (well, the head is) BUT it's his bones! In a cabinet! You would have thought, considering what I study, that I'm au fait with all things rotted and decayed, but apparently not so much. AND THAT'S NOT ALL guys, oh no, Dead Jez USED to have his REAL HEAD on his lap.
It's so freakishly, gothically* Victorian I love it.
So, in honour of the disturbing presence of ol'Jez, I'm going to write about the politics of happiness. I have touched on it previously – Jezza was an ethical hedonist and, along with the dude that was JS Mill, key proponent of utilitarianism and the Greatest Happiness Principle. GHP is (or bloody should be) at the heart of politics "the greatest happiness of the greatest number". HOWEVER, in order to determine this in practice, you have to be able to 'measure' happiness. Bentham believed happiness was quantifiable, and working on the notion that we exist under pleasure and pain alone, you can apply a value to pleasure that is its intensity multiplied by its duration. Fast-forward to present day and ‘well being’ is a critical part of party political manifestos. Happiness, as a part of measuring and assessing Quality Of Life, is now on a par with things such as economic growth, with talk of ‘sustainable development’.
“We should be thinking not just what is good for putting money in people's pockets but what is good for putting joy in people's hearts” David Cameron
A few years ago, a BBC program called The Happiness Formula set about recognizing the importance of happiness in politics. Fundamental rudiments such as health and taxes are as implicated as advertising campaigns (making you feel less well-off), or your daily commute (keeping you from loved ones). The program looked at the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan where government policy on the basis of Gross National Happiness bans most advertising and TV programs. It even, and this point literally has me on the verge of packing my bags and moving there, has BANNED PLASTIC BAGS (don't ask, long story)
Bhutan is ruled by an absolute monarchy, so the level of control will be dramatically different to that of a western demographic government. But as a contrast, it highlights the question of exactly how far governments should and can go in the name of happiness. How much of our happiness is determined on an individual level and how much is a product of society en masse and our immediate environment? Which both directly and indirectly rests on government.
HOWEVER. For today I need something INSTANT. On an early morning run I tripped, fell over, and now resemble a bedraggled six year old after an altercation in the playground - with grazed, bloody knees and a general sense of shame that even after twenty (something) years I can’t coordinate my limbs. Limping the two miles home, I repeated a four-letter word with every wounded step, which I guess, ironically, is a form of meditation. But it’s FINE, worry not, I’ve paid a trip to the healing isle of Savalon and have two huge plasters keeping me together.
I'm going back to the early days of Forty Days, to the Purica website.
Participate in new physical and mental activities to improve confidence levels and coping mechanisms. Building confidence could be as easy as learning the meanings of new words, learning about new topics or if you are right-handed using instead your left hand more frequently (left hand connects with the more spiritual, intuitive and creative right side of the brain).
?? What if, like me, you're left-handed already? AND you can keep your 'new physical activities' well away from me today. Regardless... sounds easy, good day.
*I have just invented this suffix.
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