Bertrand Russell on How to Find Happiness #82
The Conquest of Happiness (3)
Welcome back to Daily Philosophy and our year-long quest to try out six different philosophies of happiness in our everyday lives!
In the previous two posts (one, two), we talked about Bertrand Russell and his theory of what makes us unhappy: competition, anxiety, envy and the fear of the opinion of others are just a few common factors that contribute to an unhappy life.
Today, we want to see what Russell thinks about how to become happy. Let’s dive in!
Zest
According to Russell, one of the main ingredients of a happy life is what he calls a “friendly interest in things”:
“The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.”
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