As a Buddhist living in a Western country, I feel caught between two
very different definitions of "happiness." Both traditions insist that
happiness is something worth striving for, a lifelong goal, but the
similarity ends there. Westerners are pummeled with images of the good
time they should be having all the time. Childhood should be an endless
birthday party, college should end with a spouse and large crowd of
lifelong best friends, one should wake up every day so excited to be
alive that they spring out of bed. For Buddhists, "happiness" is
something more subtle and elusive. While I was born and raised in the
U.S., in my heart, I know that the Western idea of happiness is at the
root of all our suffering, and by extension, the world's suffering. 

In
Buddhist philosophy, there are ten states of being, from hell at the
low end, where a person is constantly under emotional seige, filled
with misery and destructive feelings, to buddha at the high end, full
of vitality and wisdom. Human beings move through these ten states
constantly, as they are not a linear progression - any one of them is
accessible from any other. Everyone has their own natural resting state
- the state in which they would exist if they made no conscious effort
to change it. My own natural state is that of hunger. The state of
hunger isn't just about food, but more often seeks approval, love or
attention. People who exist in hunger often get themselves into trouble
seeking to satisfy that hunger in inappropriate ways, feeding their own
suffering. 

It can take years just to realize that buddhahood is
both acheivable and sustainable. The other thing that takes people
years to realize is that Buddhism is not about entitlement. If I am
happy, it's not because I "deserve" it, but because I worked very hard
to make it happen. Similarly, if I am unhappy, it's because I have not
done what I should to attain happiness. Sure, there are plenty of
people throughout the world born into circumstances that make happiness
nearly impossible, but there is a solution to that. 

Westerners
exist in a state of emotional entitlement. Many believe that, merely by
being born, they deserve endless happiness. It wasn't always this way.
Before the industrial revolution, when our economy was largely
agrarian, people took responsibility for their lives. Farmers live and
die by their own efforts, and are well-versed in the idea that their
own efforts lead to their own successes or failures. But people began
moving from the country into cities, and more people went to work for
large firms, where the ultimate product of their efforts is only a tiny
part of a company's success or failure. 

The consequence of
better manufacturing methods meant that more products were available
for purchase. More competition led to more advertising, and this
advertising is almost universally based around a single idea: our
product is better than their product, and you deserve the best. How
many advertising slogans have told us that? Burger King's "Have it your
way."  "Calgon, take me away." Hallmark's "When you care enough to send
the very best." L'Oreal's "Because I'm worth it." And because human
beings believe what they're told, we all came to believe that the world
of endless luxury and happiness portrayed first in print ads, then in
the movies, then in television was not only real, but our due. 

But
the Westerner's misery is reflected in our poor health - among the
worst in the civilized world (based on average life expectancy versus
amount spent on healthcare per capita). It's reflected in the number
and nature of lawsuits people press, and when the plaintiff wins, the
astronomical sums of money for "pain and suffering," as though the
plaintiff was somehow robbed of the state of perfect bliss in which
they existed before.  It's reflected in the politics of our times,
where both sides accuse the other of not doing enough, but the result
is that no one does anything. 

Sadly, the Westerner's suffering
is the suffering of the world. Americans consume more resources per
capita than anyone else on the planet, and in order to give us those
resources, other people most go without. People all over the globe
exist on below-subsistence wages just so that WalMart can offer us the
lowest prices in town. The Western belief that we deserve endless
happiness, and that our happiness takes the form of new stuff, is
sapping the happiness of everyone else. 

It's possible to stop,
though. Epiphanies happen. All over the country, people are realizing
that they don't need a new whatsit. That there's a fundamental
satisfaction in making their own meals, clothes and household objects.
That while buying a new thing offers a second of excitement, looking at
a thing you made yourself offers a lifetime of joy. That learning and
improving takes the sting out of failure. Westerners learned their own
misery, but I have confidence that we're smart enough to learn
happiness as well. Learning is a lifelong process, but we're smart, and
we've got time.