Author: Shawn Christopher Shea, M.D.

Published by Health Communications Inc.

 ISBN: 0-7573-0066-9

The Following Review Was Contributed by:

S.V. SWAMY & CLICK TO VIEW S.V. Swamy's Reviews

"Happiness Is." subtitled "Unexpected Answers to
Practical Questions in Curious Times" by Dr. Shawn
Christopher Shea, M.D., psychiatrist, is not a
self-help book in the traditional sense. The correct
categorization is Philosophy / Spirituality, and it is
a well written exploration of what makes us happy that
is fun to read and at places funny, yet manages to
address two key philosophical questions - What is the
nature of Happiness? and, What is the structure
of human nature that determines the extent of that
happiness? - in a compelling fashion. Of course, all
books that help us understand our true nature are
self-help books!

The author adopts a systematic approach to defining
the problem, analyses data, picks up bits and pieces
of the jig saw puzzle, and then more importantly,
validates the various premises with real life data and
comes up with a practical workable blueprint.

Dr.Shea's model of human nature - the human matrix -
is not really a new concept per se having been part
and parcel of eastern philosophy and western mysticism
for centuries, but his presentation is refreshing and
provocative. He deftly creates a picture of human
nature that resonates well with modern sensibilities
and science. Dr. Shea describes human beings as
constantly evolving moments in time where five
interacting systems - our biologies, our psychological
perceptions, our interpersonal relationships,
environmental conditions, and spiritualities interact
to determine a new being with every passing second. I
would add that there are, in reality, probably many
more elements to the human matrix but these are the
five most prominent and they will do for now.

If you are looking for a book that, in a concise
language, answers specific practical questions
you may be a little disappointed by the storytelling
and literary wordiness that distinguishes this book.
Dr.Shea is quite clear in his Introduction that this
is not meant to be a self-help book "filled with case
studies and statistics. I believe in such books, and,
indeed, have spent much of my career writing them. But
the goal of this book is not proof. It is provocation.
It is an invitation to think creatively, to view our
existence through a different lens."

Thus "Happiness Is." is one of those few books of
applied philosophy - that explore human nature in a
compelling way via the use of vivid, sometimes quirky,
and often memorable stories of what it is to be a
human being in a universe that is at once both
magnificent and overwhelming.

The examples chosen by Dr.Shea from his extensive
reading (including in his own words, historical
mystics such as Julian of Norwich, modern
philosophical renegades such as Alan Watts, and
contemporary humanitarians such as Paul Farmer the
subject of Tracy Kidder's recent bestseller "Mountains
Beyond Mountains") are described with a freshness and
in contemporary language. Perhaps even more striking
are his tales culled from his extensive clinical
practice (taking care to protect the patient's privacy
as usual) and from his everyday encounters.

The resulting tales are quite appealing and at places
powerfully moving. If possible, see page 164, where a
watchmaker named Bob finds his life's work of model
airplanes all smashed to bits by floodwaters and then
looks to his wife Judy whose eyes give him the power
to smile through his veil of tears. She smiles back
with a quietly intuited understanding of his loss and
with unspoken support. It moved me to tears. There are
several more examples in the book like that of Nick,
the 8-year-old boy troubled by severe OCD (Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder) and many more equally vivid
tales. Dr. Shea is at his best, when he is telling his
stories, and has a good knack of weaving the seemingly
disparate threads of the stories into a comprehensive,
elegant, and useful understanding of the nature of
happiness and the structure of human nature itself.

The book is easy to read, but is not to be read at a
fast pace like a novel. I would recommend that you
read it at your natural pace first. I think you will
then find yourself returning again and again to come
back for specific solutions, in a fashion
characteristic of those books that have moved us
deeply.

Perhaps the book would have benefited with an index.
It was certainly a bit irritating to have to flip
through several chapters to relocate the pages where
Bob and Judy's story is told. On the other hand Dr.
Shea provides a comprehensive bibliography, whose rich
selections, may be useful if you want to go deeper
into specific aspects of spirituality or even some of
the historical curiosities that fill the pages of the
book. The book has a total of 18 Chapters, in the
typical eastern tradition!

I couldn't agree with some of the points made by
Dr.Shea. He clearly emphasizes the essentially
interconnectedness of everything (quantum theory is
coming up often in my reading now a days). He also
emphasizes this integration through his robust
synthesis of Eastern and Western mysticism. But
Dr.Shea seems to focus a bit too much on providing
prescriptions for the individual to use to help solve
the day to day problems of uncovering happiness. Thus
he inadvertently slips into an acceptance of the
illusion of individual independence. I also think that
he would have done better to show in more detail how
unhappiness and pain are useful, indeed necessary
forces for helping an individual realize his/her true
nature, which is Universal, which is beyond space and
time. Till then, unhappiness is a good driving force
to push the individual along the path that he/she is
destined to travel.

Despite these concerns, I liked the book, that
overall, is filled with provocative ideas, a fairly
fresh definition of happiness, and a masterful use of
storytelling to create philosophical intrigue.

The book has a bright blue dust jacket that pulls one
into its pages, which are smartly designed and
pleasing to read. In short, the book is not only well
written, it is well produced, but the editing could
certainly have been better. It tended to obscure the
flow of ideas at some places and at places, the text
tended to verbosity.

Dr. Shea comes across as a refreshingly warm and
sincere psychiatrist, who has created a book of
philosophy that is both fun to read and hard to
forget. The stories of his patients will return to you
over and over at times when their wisdom may prove
most valuable. I would certainly recommend this book
if you are serious about finding happiness. The book,
whose ultimate message of compassion is sorely needed
in our contemporary times, should appeal to a wide
cross section of the reading public.