Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

 

Recent photo of Andrew 
Mountbatten-Windsor;
entitled and indulged.

 Because of the continuing and influential publicity over the Epstein files, I had decided to write a blog on the former Prince Andrew and, bang on target, came this morning’s news [19/02/26] that he had just been arrested by Thames Valley Police! Whatever his level of stupidity, duplicity or wrongdoing, it is certainly reassuring to know that in Britain, a member of the Royal Family, albeit one already in some public ‘trouble’, can be arrested when events call for that. It is the first senior Royal arrest since 1647.

David Rowland; Andrew M-W; Jeffrey Epstein

And so to Andrew. Emails published in the Daily Telegraph, [a Royal supporter surely?] suggest that in 2010 the then Prince Andrew asked for information from Treasury officials on banking problems in Iceland. In fact, he asked for, “an update note on the latest position between the UK and Iceland on the matter of the deposits and the deposit guarantee scheme,” This was at a time when Iceland’s banking sector faced problems after three large banks there had experienced severe difficulties, following the 2008 financial crisis, and had had to be nationalised. The briefing he received, was shared with Jonathan Rowland, a business connection of Andrew’s, whose father, David Rowland, subsequently took over part of a failing Icelandic bank. The Epstein files reveal the closeness of Andrew to David Rowland with the former prince calling him his “trusted money man”, inviting him to his, Andrew’s, birthday party and to the wedding of his daughter, Princess Eugenie. Rowland’s son, Jonathan, also appeared to have a close relationship with Mountbatten-Windsor, joining him on trips as an official trade envoy, to places such as China and the former Soviet states.

Andrew was allowed to keep his Falklands'
medals when other honours were removed
by the King last year. Andrew was a 
helicopter pilot and instructor during 
the Falklands war.

During this period, when Andrew was serving as the UK’s trade envoy, his behaviour constituted a misuse of his public role by giving official, i.e. privileged, information to a private associate. It means that the Thames Valley Police’s most recent position in which they have been assessing whether to launch an investigation into possible criminal misconduct in public office, has been resolved with Andrew’s arrest today. Emails from the Epstein files suggested that Mountbatten-Windsor had also forwarded official documents to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted paedophile and financier, such as reports from overseas trade trips to southeast Asia and a briefing by UK officials on investment in Afghanistan described by the former prince as “confidential.”

In one of the Epstein emails, Mountbatten-Windsor wrote that “he [David Rowland] is actively seeking high net worth individuals for his Private Bank. Perhaps this is an avenue for your undecided Chinese?”. The Private bank referred to was Rowland’s Banque Havilland. Epstein replied, “His bank just might be the place… I guess I should learn more.”  The emails released by the US Department of Justice also suggest that Rowland’s bank had made loans to Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who had also faced

Sarah Ferguson, Andrew's former wife, with him in January 2026

debt problems.  Banque Havilland has experienced problems with regulators in the UK and Europe and lost its banking license in 2024, a decision against which the bank is appealing. 

The media is swift to print salacious
news about a Royal Person in
public trouble. Andrew is clearly
younger, here.

Andrew over the inert body of a young woman whose face
has been obscured.

The Observer suggests that the British Royal family could easily face an existential threat from the Andrew debacle, clearly understood by the King with his swift response to todays’ arrest of Andrew, pledging his “full and whole-hearted support and co-operation for the authorities. The law must take its course”.  The Royal Family has worked hard to present itself as a family, facing upheavals like the 1936 abdication crisis, and the divorce and death of Princess Diana, increasingly as openly as possible. Queen Elizabeth’s long and dutiful reign, embellished by her obvious decency and popularity, ensured the monarchy long remained as a broadly accepted and widely admired institution, committed to public

Queen Elizabeth 11

service, with an array of Royals appearing regularly and happily with her on the Balcony, ready to launch ships, open housing estates and grace theatrical and musical events. But Andrew’s firm friendship with Epstein, in full swing by 1999, meant that after his divorce, and the loss of his palatial home, he happily accepted Epstein’s tempting offers of lucrative contacts, an array of women and sexual opportunities, with more than one allegation that Epstein ‘sent over’ a young woman for sex with Andrew. Furthermore, there was money to pay his ex-wife’s seemingly endless debts, for Andrew and Sarah, post-divorce, remained firm friends.

A younger Andrew with 17 year old Virginia Giuffre and
Ghislaine Maxwell in attendance.
The small photo shows Andrew esconced across the laps
of several anonymous young women.

Today, 20/02/26, Andrew has been released after 11 hours in custody, while further investigations continue; apparently the first Royal to be arrested since 1647 when Charles 1 was sent to the Tower and began his two year journey to the scaffold.

 Perhaps surprisingly, given Epstein's conviction for paedophilia, the present investigations do not appear to include enquiries into sex with underage girls, despite earlier accusations by Virginia Giuffre that she had been trafficked to London specifically for Andrew with whom she had had sex three times when she was 17. Giuffre was awarded reputedly £12 million after her legal pursuit of Andrew for underage sex and it is understood that the money, far beyond Andrew's financial capacity, was privately funded by Queen Elizabeth. She also, significantly, chose to walk with Andrew when she attended the remembrance service for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey in 2022 when his reputation was already in tatters. 

It has also been alleged that Jeffrey Epstein plotted to secure £1m in cash for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as part of a lucrative business deal with an American investment giant.

Mountbatten-Windsor driven away after being in police
custody for 11 hours.

There is much publicity today featuring a paparazzi shot of Andrew being driven away looking exhausted, dazed and bewildered in the back seat of a police car.[20/02/2026] It is possibly the face of a man unused to facing up to the consequences of his own errant behaviour. Media discussion currently features the Royal line of succession and Buckingham Palace has indicated it will not oppose plans to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the Royal line of succession where he remains eighth in line to succeed the King, despite having been stripped of all his Royal titles and relieved of any official duties. Royal sources indicated on Saturday, Feb 21st, that King Charles specifically would not stand in the way of Parliament if it wanted to ensure the former prince could never be in line, however remote the chance, to ascend the throne.

 

The Harvard Study of Adult Development.

JFK soon after Harvard

So, to the Harvard Study which was initiated when scientists began tracking the health of 268 Harvard students in their late teens, in 1938 during the terrible years of the Great Depression. Interestingly, among the original batch of wealthy young men studied were the eventual President, John F. Kennedy, and the later longtime Washington Post editor, Ben Bradlee. There were no young women in the study as Harvard was still all male. In addition, scientists eventually expanded their study to include the original group’s offspring, who now

JFK as President

 number 1,300 and are in their 50s and 60s; the purpose was to find out how early life experiences affect health and ageing over time. Some participants went on to become successful businessmen, doctors, lawyers, politicians, even Presidents, while others ended up as schizophrenics or alcoholics though none appeared to be on intable tracks to their eventual destinies.  

A reference to this study done almost a hundred years ago, caught my eye recently in u3amatters [u3a.org.uk] and I thought it might well have information useful to me as I approach what can only be described as the completion of my adult development. There is always the sneaking thought of “How am I doing?” with the hope that some advice might well be revealed to my benefit. Though, truth to tell, I am not searching for a life extension much beyond the present waystation of 91, but I am interested in keeping myself as healthy as possible, both this year and beyond.

The present Director of the study, the fourth since 1938, is a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital who is also a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Robert Waldinger, and he observes, “Taking care of your body is important but tending to your relationships is a form of self-care too. That, I think, is the revelation. The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in those relationships have a powerful influence on our health.”

Close relationships more than wealth or fame are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study showed. Those relational ties protect people from life’s discontents, help to delay mental and physical decline, and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, I.Q. or even genes. That finding proved true across the board among both the Harvard men and the inner-city participants, numbering a total of 824, who were later included in the study. And those relationships aren't built through grand gestures, but through what psychologists call ''micro-moments' of connection. Several studies have found that people’s level of satisfaction with their relationships at age 50 was a better predictor of physical health in old age than their state of health in mid-life. When the scientists gathered the data together, they learned a lot about the participants at age 50, “it wasn’t their middle-age cholesterol levels that predicted how they were going to grow old,” said Waldinger in a Ted Talk: “It was how satisfied they were in their relationships. The people who were the most satisfied with their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80. The loners often died earlier. loneliness kills. It’s as powerfully destructive as smoking or alcoholism.”

According to the study, those who lived longer and enjoyed sound health had also always avoided smoking and alcohol in excess. Researchers found that those with strong social support experienced less mental deterioration as they aged and in a recent study researchers found that women who felt strongly attached to their partners were less depressed and happier in all their relationships two and-a-half years after the study, and with better memory functions than those with frequent marital conflict.          

In a book called ‘Aging Well’ Professor George Vaillant, psychoanalyst and Director of Research for the Dept. of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, wrote that six factors predicted healthy ageing for the Harvard men: physical activity; absence of alcohol abuse and smoking; having mature mechanisms and relationships to cope with life’s ups and downs; a healthy weight and a stable marriage. For the inner-city men, education was an additional factor. “The more education the inner-city men obtained, the more likely they were to stop smoking, eat sensibly and use alcohol in moderation,” wrote Vaillant.

Post Script

Emotional Intelligence was not specifically mentioned above but, of course, it is hugely integral to, and important in, our lives. I found a short model to define E.Q. by Waldinger and Schultz in The Good Life [2023]

  1.Altruism, contributing to others’ wellbeing.                                    . 2 Anticipation, imagining constructive outcomes; optimism.                                                                     3. Suppression, choosing to delay action or impulse.                                                                                   4. Sublimation, channelling emotions into growth and creativity.                                                               5. Humour, maintaining perspective and resilience.

There is a growing body of evidence showing that emotional intelligence increases with age and can be strengthened at any stage of life. Between the ages 50 and 70, for instance, participants were four times more likely to use these emotionally intelligent strategies than immature ones. Increased emotional intelligence is undoubtedly one, perhaps the, critical contributor to a long and happy life.

Post Script

There is overlap between this blog and one published on June 26th, 2025 entitled Ikigai, the Japanese concept of 'seeking joy in little things.'

Southern Mexico: Discovery of 1400 year old tomb in Oaxaca.

Carving of an owl, signfying both death and night.
On the lintel above the entrance to the tomb.

Entrance to the Zapotec tomb in San Pablo Huitzo.
Oaxaca, southern Mexico

 News broke last week that archaeologists in southern Mexico have made the ‘discovery of the decade’ after unearthing an ancient burial chamber dating back an incredible 1,400 years. It is a Zapotec tomb located in San Pablo Huitzo in the central valleys of Oaxaca, constructed in stone during the era of the Zapotec civilization whose people were known as the Be’ena’a, or Cloud People because they believed that their ancestors had descended from the clouds where their souls would return after death, as spirits; the Zapotecs dominated the region during the pre-Hispanic era. Dating from approximately 600 CE, the tomb has remained hidden for over a millennium and astonishingly, retains a remarkable level of preservation. The Zapotecs were a foundational indigenous society which flourished in the valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica, now southern Mexico, from 500 BC, mainly dying out around

Tomb 104 at Monte Alban, 200-500 AD. Example of early
Zapotec funeral art with sculptures and murals.

1521 AD after the arrival of the Spanish. They are recognized as having developed early writing systems, a 260-day calendar and a highly centralized state with a capital at Monte Alban which dominated the region for centuries. They created a socially stratified society with Kings at the apex followed in descending order by priests, soldiers, artisans and commoners below. The Zapotecs were economically competitive and formed successful trading relationships with other Mesoamerican cultures like the Olmecs and the Mayans. The Zapotec civilisation declined noticeably around 900 A.D. but did not completely disappear as the culture persists today when around 400,000 people remain in central Mexico. But it did experience a centuries-long, gradual decline which culminated in the 16th century, after flourishing from around 700BCE, brought to an end by the Spanish Conquest in the early 15th century. One source quotes the critical end years to 1521-1527.

A sculpture of a man's head with the face of a Zapotec lord
inside the head of the giant owl.

The site is home to multi-coloured murals featuring symbols associated with power and death. At the threshold to the burial chamber there are carvings of two human figures holding various artefacts in their hands, considered by archaeologists to have been the guardians of the tomb. Among the many well-preserved details is a sculpture of a giant owl, signifying both death and night, which sits above the entrance to the burial chamber. A sculpture of a man’s head with the face of a Zapotec lord, can be seen inside the owl’s beak, possibly representing the individual who was buried there or perhaps, a revered ancestor. The doorway is framed by a stone threshold and lintel above which is a frieze of engraved slabs of ancient calendrical names. Inside the burial chamber itself is an extraordinary mural in white, green, red and blue, showing a procession of people walking in the direction of the tomb entrance, carrying bags of copal, a tree resin burned as incense during the ceremonies.  .

Zapotec tomb carving

Mexico’s Culture Secretary, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, underlined the message from the President, Claudia Scheinbaum who highlighted the importance of the discovery. De Icaza said how the tomb is an
‘exceptional discovery due to its level of conservation and for what it tells us about Zapotec culture and its social organization, funeral rituals and belief system, all preserved by the architecture and the murals. It is a compelling example of Mexico's ancient grandeur which is now being researched, protected and shared with society."

 A multi-disciplinary team from the Institute of Anthropology and History [INAH] is now working to protect the site and conduct further research. Their most urgent work includes stabilizing the murals which, despite their miraculous preservation, are nonetheless, in a fragile state due to the impact of 1400 years of withstanding tree roots, insects and increasingly rapid changes in environmental conditions.

 

  

Sample of Zapotec tomb mural art.

Holocaust Memorial Day: January 27th, 2026

 

Inside the Auschwitz Extermination Camp 1942

The Remembrance Day date for honouring the Holocaust was chosen to coincide with the date when

Anne's passport photo, June 1942

 Auschwitz was liberated on Jan 27^th,1945. Among the 8,000 remaining prisoners released, was Otto Frank, desperately ill like so many others. Otto was the only one of the eight people who hid in the Annexe [see below] to survive the war. Near the end of his life, he reflected, “I am now almost ninety and my strength is slowly failing. Still, the task I received from Anne continues to restore my energy; to struggle for reconciliation and human rights." The recent celebration of the Holocaust Memorial Day brought vividly to mind that most famous victim of the Holocaust, Anne Frank, born Anneliese Marie Frank on 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt am Main, three years younger than her sister Margot. Her story continues to inspire.

Germany: Persecution of Jews 1933-1945

 In the Thirties, in post-war Germany, poverty was rife and unemployment high, conditions which enabled Hitler and the Nazis to seize power and blame the national difficulties on the Jews. In view of the poor economic situation and the rampant anti-Semitism nationally, Otto and Edith Frank, Anne’s parents, decided to leave Germany and move the family to Amsterdam where Otto founded a company dealing in pectin, Opektra, a gelling agent used in jam-making. The move was successful and the family enjoyed life in Amsterdam where they                                                                                                          learned Dutch, made friends and Anne                                                                                                          happily atttended a Dutch school near                                                                                                         her home.                                                                                                                                  

Behind the enemy powers, the Jew

In 1939, on September 1st, when Anne was ten, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and launched WW2, with the Nazis invading the Netherlands on May 10 1940, when the small Dutch army quickly surrendered. Almost immediately, anti-Jewish legislation commenced in the Netherlands and Jewish lives quickly became difficult and soon, dangerous. For instance, Jews could no longer visit parks, cinemas, non-Jewish shops and could not own any business while Jewish children could only attend separate
Jewish schools. Otto Frank, like many others, had to relinquish his company, while Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothes; outward symbols of the Jew-hatred which led to the systematic deportation of Jews from the Netherlands. When Margot, Anne’s big sister, received a call-up to report for re-location to a labour camp in Nazi Germany on 5 July 1942, this was a clear warning which alerted Otto who brought forward his plan for his family to hide in an annexe of his canal-side business premises at Prinsengracht 263 which they did on Monday 6 July..  He had already begun furnishing a hiding place there. This achterhuis [Secret Annexe] was a three-storey space entered from a landing above the Opektra offices where trusted colleagues and employees of Otto worked. The Franks’ apartment was left in deliberate disarray to suggest a hasty departure and Otto left a note hinting the family had gone to Switzerland, also asking their neighbours, the Kupers, to take care of their cat, Moortje. The door to the achterhuis was finally covered with a heavy bookcase.  

Otto Frank at the entrance to the achterhuis hidden
behind the bookcase. 1964. He had lost Anne,
Margot and Edith almost twenty years earlier.

Four employees from Otto’s business, plus the father of one and husband of another, were the sum total of people who knew of the hidden Frank family. This little group comprising Victor Kugler, Johanne Kleieman, Miep Gies, Bep Voskuikl, kept the Franks informed of the war's progres and of any political  developments and supplied them with food and any other requirements.  Anne wrote of their huge help in her diary, and of their dedication to keeping up the Frank morale as they all tried hard to avoid discovery and certain death.              

On 13^th July 1942 the Frank family was joined by the Van Pels family, Hermann, Auguste and 16-year-old Pieter, and in November by Fritz Pfeffer a dentist and family friend.  Tensions quickly developed within the group forced to live in such confined conditions with the shared fear of lethal discovery.   For Anne’s thirteenth birthday on 12 June 1942, Anne had received an autograph book bound with a red and white chequered cloth and with a small lock on the front. She loved it and decided to use it as a diary which she named, Kitty. Many details known of Anne’s wartime life and the restrictions placed upon Dutch Jews by the Nazis, were found in her diary.            

Blue and Yellow Stars of David: Some details:

 On November 23, 1939, Hans Frank, the Nazi Governor-Generral of occupied Poland, decreed that all Jews in Poland over the age of 10 were required to designate themselves as Jewish by wearing a white arm badge with a blue Star of David whenever they went out in public. It was the first time that the Nazis had legally required Jews to distinguish themselves in appearance from the rest of the population. This ruling was later implemented across Nazi-occupied Europe but Frank's order was only the beginning. On September 1, 1941 Reinhard Heydrich ordered all Jews over the age of six in Germany, Alsace, Bohemia-Moravia and the German-occupied areas of Poland, to wear a yellow Star of David in public. This command extended the public labelling of Jews into every part of Nazi-controlled Europe with the exception of Southern France and Denmark. The rule stipulated that the Star must be worn on the left side of Jews' outer clothing, and on their backs for easy public identification. Each badge was supposed to measure four inches in length and the word Jude was written in the local language necessary and used a font to imitate the appearance of Hebraic type.                                                                                                                                      

Soldiers round up Jews from Warsaw Ghetto 1943

    Memorial to Anne and Margot in
Bergen-Belsen

That Perennial Favourite Refugee: Paddington Bear

Paddington on a bench with a marmalade sandwich

 I was surprised, earlier this month, to see a life-size Paddington Bear gracing a bench in the middle of the Apex here, the main shopping centre in Bury St Edmunds. Since then, for perhaps nearly a month now, I have enjoyed seeing countless toddlers and slightly older children, sitting, arms around this familiar little figure, ready for a family photo! There is a seemingly universal affection for this special little bear and I set out to discover his heritage!          

Always ready to go, with suitcase and label

In fact, he was created in a story entitled, “A Bear Called Paddington” by the author Michael Bond who had bought a teddy bear which he thought looked rather lonely in a toyshop window, as a stocking-filler for his wife on Christmas Eve, 1956, naming the bear Paddington after Paddington Station near where they lived. He modelled the refugee status of the bear on World War 11 evacuees, most of whom had been removed from family and familiar surroundings to be sent to live with strangers elsewhere in the country deemed to be safer. He remembered seeing evacuees in transit during the war, all wearing labels with their names and home addresses pinned to them and clutching little suitcases. He also became acquainted with some Jewish children who had sought sanctuary in the UK from the Nazis in Europe.  Similar to the British evacuees and those fleeing the Nazis,  Paddington had sought refuge from his native Peru and was sent to London by his Aunt Lucy with a label attached to him saying, “Please look after this bear.”  He arrived complete with suitcase which he always carried, and a love of marmalade sandwiches. Paddington’s polite label, I now recall delightedly, was re-used, probably fifty years ago, perhaps almost twenty years after his creation, by a then great friend of my youngest daughter, Cait.  When Adele was staying with us, I took a little family party on a day trip to London and to my amusement, Adele, wore a brown luggage label attached to her coat all day, which said, “Please look after this bear.” She told me it was Very Important.    

Paddington with his favourite sandwiches

Paddington became enormously popular and, as the nation took him to their heart, sales of Bond’s books soared, and he was eventually enabled to leave his full-time job at the BBC in 1965 to write full-time and begin to produce what became his wonderful legacy. In BBC Two’s Paddington, The Man Behind the Bear it was revealed that in 2010, in a letter written to the Paddington Film producer, Rosie Allison, Michael had told how Jewish children had also come to live in his home from Nazi Germany: “We took in some Jewish children who often sat in front of the fire every evening, quietly crying, because they had no idea what had happened to their parents, and neither did we, at the time. It's the reason why Paddington arrived with the label round his neck."

Paddington enables the Bond family to live here
in an elegant part of London,
at 32, Windsor Gardens

 We can easily summarise Paddington’s character and appearance in a few words: He always wears a blue duffel coat and a red hat and always, always carries a suitcase. He is a well-meaning but accident-prone bear who is unfailingly polite and generally happy, especially when marmalade sandwiches are available! Remarkably, he has two birthdays like Queen Elisabeth did; one on June 25th and one on December 25th. His official name is Paddington Brown and amazingly, it took him a Very Long Time to be granted a British passport which did not arrive until October 2024.

Paddington gets commercial

In fact, on reflection, Paddington is a powerful symbol of what refugees can bring to their host countries when they are welcomed and supported, even if they do arrive in unplanned and irregular ways. With the right help, people seeking safety can contribute a great deal to the U.K. There are many people and several organisations in the UK working to help refugees already here, to settle in and live independently, such as Right To Remain and the Anti-Racism Movement plus the Migrant Rights Network. End Mass Migration which has links to Reform, led by Nigel Farage, and the Brexit Party in the meantime are seeking to create a mass movement against immigration as are Patriotic Alternative and UKIP. These right-wing groups seek to permit limited immigration of white people who share the same ethnic background or can prove British ancestry, though white South Africans would be among the groups granted asylum due to their “descent from European nations.” Happily, the pro-immigrant groups outnumber the anti.

 .                

Michael Bond, Creator of Paddington Bear, Dies at 91

The author’s stories about a plucky, marmalade-loving bear sold more than 35 million copies worldwide

                                Headline in June 2017.

Michael Bond with his famous creation.

Paddington and his British passport.

Happiness

 

I recently happened to stumble across an online clutch of quotes on Happiness after the arrival of the latest issue of Philosophy Now which has prompted this blog. I did notice a certain predictability and mundanity in the quotes which freqently mentioned helping others or putting oneself last. I feel cynical writing that but it also reminded me of how very difficult it is to write convincingly about states of mind. Although I never actually ask myself," Am I happy?" it occurs to me from time to time how very lucky I am, at my age and stage, to have a loving and kind family who stay in touch, visit from time to time, and who somehow, make me feel loved in a quiet, unspoken way. Although most of my week sees me alone, happily reading, enjoying myself on my laptop, writing occasional blogs which take longer to compose as the years totter past; yet I never actually feel alone as in 'lonely'. My local daughter and grand-daughter drop in most days, which is a delight and which reminds me of how glad I am that I did persuade myself to leave Beloved Brugge to live in Bury St Edwards which has quieter pretensions and practices but offers a similar sanctuary. A fruitful and happy move.

December 25th 2025

Going out, i.e. to go somewhere specifically to listen to music  or go to a lecture, or to participate in a discussion, or of course, join my bi-weekly Mah Jong sessions............ all of these occasions are so very welcome and enjoyable though, lately, rather harder to access as walking itself becomes more effortful. It takes determination and tenacity these days to just go to, and do, the things I want to do although I don't have anything wrong with me physically at all!! Except, of course, the unsteady balance which has settled down now to being the norm! Yesterday I saw a local physio who specialises in balance and she advised I drink much more water as I was definitely dehydrated and this might well be contributing to my unsteady balance.She also said that she hoped to be as good as me when she was 91! Frankly, it is difficult to remember to celebrate that which is left; I do tend to demur against the thinning hair, the vocabulary lapses, the slow and slightly unsteady gait, the thickening torso, the absolute ease of forgetting exactly what the hell I was going to do, or write, within minutes of originally deciding! But these developments on the less-than-positive side do not, curiously, add up to discontent; perhaps to occasional irritation or to a resigned 'That's life' kind of weary acknowledgement and acceptance!

 I have just read a refreshing article in the current issue of

Boethius pictured speaking to students.

Philosophy Now entitled, 'Deconstructing Happiness' and discover encouragingly that to Socrates, philosophy was basically about finding the best way to live a life. He watched how life functions within society and examined the influences that shape it. But Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius  [480-524 CE] tries to give a clear picture of what happiness essentially is. He rejects false hopes and through transparent honesty, shows a path that can lead to satisfaction, not to universal fulfillment but to individual contentment. And individual contentment sounds to me like happiness! He asks us merely to consider what we mean by the nature of happiness.  "Do you really hold dear that kind of happiness which is destined to pass away? Do you really value the  presence of Fortune when you cannot trust her (Fortune) to stay and when her departure will plunge you into sorrow?"   Boethius argues that nothing that is ephemeral, transient and temporary can be of any value in terms of happiness for when that happiness ends it is followed by despair which is so hard to bear. He deduces that Fortune's smile, happiness, is a warning of coming disaster. Oh dear; this feels like a fearfulness bred in adverse situations or destructive relationships which some of us, perhaps many of us, experience but nonetheless chiefly cope with, calling up an inner strength perhaps fortified by that same happiness.

Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher
"The door of happiness opens inward".

Michel de Montaigne 1533-!592 "We should have
wife, children, goods, and above all health if we can

The essay referred to, looks at the opinions of several philosophers who separately consider how humans strive to find happiness and then, when they actually attain it, realising how fragile and temporary it can be, must work hard to keep it. Basically, the underlying positive conclusion seems to be that to obtain true contentment we must rely on our own internal resources. And perhaps we sensed that all along, for we all know individuals who seem to be thoroughly happy, grounded, capable people who cope well with the ups and downs of life, and others who too readily translate Life's turbulence into a patchwork of misery and apprehension.  Probably the truth of the matter is that there is a mosaic within each of us, with part of us capable of surfing happiness completely, when it is available while striving to deal with the drought of melancholy when it inevitably enters, stage left. In fact, happiness is part of the human condition; it is present in all of us and to access it, we merely need an open mind to reach within ourselves to locate it and share it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." U.S. Declaration of Independence"  July 4th 1776. 

The optimism of the cover of 
Philosophy Now
is invigorating despite the misery of the
banner holder, Schopenhauer!

Joy!