A Few Thoughts on Pursuing and Achieving Happiness

Part 2 of 2: Adopt a secular, non-sacrificial, philosophy for living on earth consonant with human nature.

Happy New Year!

I concluded my last article (Why I’m an Atheist—And Why It’s Not Enough) with  

Becoming an atheist without filling the void that religion leaves behind is just another recipe for unhappiness. […] filling the void with another, traditional or modern, faith is not the solution, because it just trades one version of “accepting on faith” for another. It doesn’t solve the problems of epistemological uncertainty and doubt, and moral, unearned guilt. Which brings us to non-faith-based alternatives that attempt to address the meaning and purpose of life. 

(Read or reread the whole thing before continuing). 

I pondered for a while how to approach this in a short article without resorting to clichés. After all, miles of shelf-space have been filled with advice on how to pursue and achieve happiness, a fair share arguing for the futility of seeking it in the first place. In the end, I decided to briefly outline what has worked for me and recommend a couple of recent additions to the pursuit-of-happiness bookshelf should I have piqued your interest. 

Condensed and generalized, my journey to becoming a happy atheist looks something like this:  

1. Adopt a secular, non-sacrificial, philosophy for living on earth consonant with human nature 

2. Act on it 

3. Enjoy the journey 

Let’s take them one at a time. 

1. Adopt a secular, non-sacrificial, philosophy for living on earth consonant with human nature 

It took me a dozen years from leaving religion behind until finding “my” philosophy. It was a bumpy intellectual journey that ended with reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged at age 30 and subsequently immersing myself in her philosophy of Objectivism. Most faiths have a philosophical framework, but not all philosophies have a faith component. Objectivism belongs to the latter group, championing  

• reality over the supernatural,

• life on earth as an end in itself, not a preparation for reincarnation or some alleged afterlife, and

• reason as man’s only absolute, rejecting acceptance on faith as contra human nature.

Holding reason as one’s only absolute serves as Kryptonite for faith-based beliefs, whether religious or secular. Practiced consistently, it results in that pesky epistemological uncertainty gradually being replaced with contextual certainty: confidence in knowing what you know, and in your ability to acquire knowledge about what you don’t know. 

Furthermore, to my knowledge, of all philosophies, faith based and secular, only Objectivism rejects sacrifice as a moral virtue. Instead, it champions rational self-interest, aka rational selfishness, aka rational egoism as its fundamental moral tenet. It holds that our own happiness is the moral purpose of our life. Accepting that your happiness is your life’s ultimate moral purpose (and that others’ happiness is theirs) is the eventual nail in the coffin for unearned, moral guilt. 

2. Act on it 

Every decent Cognitive Behavioral Therapy practitioner will tell us that once we understand the causes of our potential unhappiness, taking action to remedy the situation is the only way of slowly reprogramming our subconscious. This is easier said than done. Most of us carry baggage with us from our youth that takes time, sometimes years, to undo and replace with healthy thoughts and habits; a mild, manageable form of baggage may even stay with us for the rest of our lives in certain areas. For example, slightly excessive fear of spiders may prevent one from ever learning to appreciate the soft touch of a tarantula.

Similarly, adopting a secular, non-sacrificial philosophy consonant with human nature requires taking action to break old thought patterns and habits (and sometimes the help of said CBT practitioner). And while it hopefully gets us to the point of establishing an epistemological and moral baseline that we’re content with, our life will continue to be a work in progress. 

Discovering Ayn Rand’s philosophy was a revelation to me in the secular, non-mystical sense. It answered most of my questions related to the meaning and purpose of life. Yet, putting it into practice—using it to pursue and achieve happiness—was a challenge. It took a few years before I felt comfortable. And to this day, I continue to consider myself a student of her philosophy as there are always new angles to explore and new knowledge to put into practice. Which brings us to... 

3. Enjoy the journey 

While I consider myself a continuous work in progress, I’m taking pleasure in the process of living my life to the fullest according to my best understanding of Objectivism. I set short and long-term goals, some I reach, some I don’t, and some get moved out. I sometimes get frustrated, procrastinate, often get distracted, push myself too hard, don’t push myself enough. But overall, I enjoy the process of managing my life. I prioritize and work on achieving my values, try to find the right balance between career, relationships, and recreation, and celebrate reaching small and significant milestones, both my own and those of the people I love and like. And the best part is that epistemological uncertainty and doubt, and unearned moral guilt, are nowhere to be seen. 

If you’re not familiar with Ayn Rand’s philosophy, I realize the above may appear esoteric. However, if I’ve whetted your appetite, but you’re not prepared to divulge her entire life’s work, I have two book recommendations as starting points. 

If you’re wrestling with faith-based beliefs, perhaps struggling with their inherent contradictions and having doubts about their sacrificial morality, check out “Getting Over Jesus: Finding Meaning and Morals without God” by Ari Armstrong (full disclosure: Ari is the editor of both versions of my book). Growing up fundamentalist Christian, Ari recounts his journey to secularism, and then draws on his experience when addressing topics such as “Christianity’s Defense Mechanisms,” “Death Without God,” “Meaning in The Natural World,” “Morals Without God,” “The Dangers of Faith,” and more. The book gave me a better appreciation for the struggle that people of faith are facing when questioning their beliefs. If you are contemplating leaving religion behind, Ari’s book is sure to be helpful. 

My second recommendation is “Effective Egoism: An Individualist's Guide to Pride, Purpose, and the Pursuit of Happiness” by Don Watkins. The title is taking a jab at Effective Altruism, which is all the rage in certain circles these days (here’s a good podcast explaining EA). Don’s is to my knowledge the first book that synthesizes Ayn Rand’s philosophy for living on earth into an easy 250-page self-help read full of examples and practical tips. Previously, you either had to devour much of Ms. Rand’s non-fiction or be sufficiently philosophically inclined to read Dr. Leonard Peikoff’s “Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand” to get the message. At $4.99 (Kindle version)/$9.99 (paperback) “Effective Egoism” is a steal and a must read for anybody looking for a secular philosophy for pursuing a truly happy life without epistemological uncertainty and unearned guilt.

I let Don have the last word: “Today 'happiness' has been castrated and no longer carries deep meaning. We equate it with momentary satisfaction or an ephemeral sense of 'feeling good.' [...] This is deeply wrong. Happiness is not weather—it is climate. It is the emotional undertone of a life well-lived. Happiness is not something you lose when life gets difficult: happiness, and the promise of it, is what sustains you in choppy waters.”