So it is for the paramecium in the laboratory; in the late Devonian, fishes which climbed up to the bank were also like it; when the Tsunami happened, forest men under the leadership of blue coated men were also like it; it was just that the subject of evolution was no longer gene, but another important element of evolution in the society of living things besides genes – meme, that is the unit for the commonly known “culture”. With the regard to the detailed discussion on this aspect, you may watch “The Meme Machine” by Susan Blackmore, the author is a student of Richard Dawkins whom I mentioned in “one of”.
It can be imagined that when the forest men first entered the Sea of Corruption, they must be painful and uncomfortable, just like fishes which climbed up to the land for the first time. The Sea of Corruption is full of malaria, a breathe of it will kill them, that’s why they need to wear masks every day; they cannot use fire for which they cannot eat the delicious food of which they are accustomed to, around them are huge and dangerous insects, a careless trigger will make them be besieged. It is very difficult to survive in the encirclement of danger by so many creatures, even if they were under the leadership of the blue-coated men, they must have experienced their own hardship and made a huge sacrifice. Finally, they were accustomed to the environment of the forest, they were familiar with the habits of insects and survived, they felt the tranquility for their heart and the joy for their life which is an unprecedented happiness.
Then, what is the so-called happiness? Is the paramecium in the shape of pocket in the laboratory happy? Are the fishes which climbed up to the land happy? Numerous people searched for happiness in their whole life and failed at the end; numerous people smashed what they pursue in their hardship for the search of “true happiness”, what is happiness? Wife? House? Car? Is it the stove in winter, or the kitten in your embrace? To be held by your lover is happiness, to eat the borsch made by your mother of which you have not had for a long time is also happiness. Some said that to leisurely bask in the sun near the sea is happiness, that’s what both wealthy and poor people can do, then why do we pursue for other things?
In fact, happiness is a kind of feeling, happiness is different for different people, and the happiness of the same person at different periods may also be completely different. Therefore, if you have to give a uniform definition for happiness, you just can’t do it. Just like the concept of “beauty”, when you think you have obtained the tranquility and satisfaction for your heart and desire, that is happiness. In other words, when you tell your heart that “I am happy”, then you are happy.
Every being living in this world, or every kind of species live in a certain environment. Then, organisms also have an expectation for the environment; you may also name it as a request. This kind of request is the irritability to the natural conditions such as temperature, salinity and illumination etc. in the very beginning, the reason is for the replication of DNA and the most suitable condition for the function of various kinds of enzymes. For example, paramecium has the most original salt escaping and phototaxis, various kinds of organisms have their own temperature for survival (death from cold is actually caused by the weakening of activity for the enzymes and the cease of metabolism). When it came to higher animals, the request becomes complicated with the organizations and structures between cells becoming extremely complicated with the mind for the formation of society. however, no matter what the demand of human beings is, it can be considered as the derivations of basic survival instinct after all. There are many writings on this aspect, such as the theory of Floyd. Then, when the requests of the environment and the organism are consistent, for lower form of life, it is adaption; while for the higher organism, such as human beings, it is “happiness”.
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