The City

The Country

“Epicurus believed that we can all be happy, the problem is simply, that we are looking in the wrong place”, according to the YouTube video by Alain Botton,(2008). What is that place, though, where we should look? In Chapter 5 of Jonathan Haidt’s 2006 book, The Pursuit of Happiness, he argues that the reason for the endurance of ancient schools of wisdom such as that of the Greek Stoics and the followers of Buddha, is in their assertion that one cannot depend on the external world for happiness but rather on what is inside oneself,(87). To do that one needs to find the type of external environment that allows for the internal work. The urban environment is certainly one that attracts many people. It is a place where there are constant opportunities for meeting others, socializing and interacting. Cities are not only productive places to work, but provide many venues for entertainment, cultural activities, sports, restaurants and, of course, shopping. For some people, this external life that is grounded in material things is what attracts them the most. However, for others like myself, it is in the country that one can best find the atmosphere for peace and contentment, which is conducive to working on the balance between the internal and external worlds, and therefore finding happiness.

All the fun, sounds and activity of the cities stimulates the mind and body, but does it help the spirit. People often ‘shop till they drop’, exhausted from all the many demands to ‘buy, buy, buy’ at every turn. Traffic, noise pollution, constant construction, all distract the mind and annoy one’s temper. In Cairo, the traffic is terrible, and going out for the evening can mean that you might as well wait to put on your cologne until you are within blocks of your destination or it will have evaporated, gone stale and your fresh appearance destroyed as you straggle out of your car after an hour or more in traffic and another half hour or more looking for a parking space. It is difficult to enjoy the wonders of a concert performance or be sociable at a dinner, when you smell like carbon dioxide and just want to nod off. Such realities are common for urban dwellers and travellers around the world. In these types of atmospheres, happiness becomes not just an illusion, but often a delusion.

The country, on the other hand, provides a venue for peaceful contemplation. The air is free of the pollution that lives in cities. There are no distractions caused by constant noise, flashing lights, sirens, construction projects being carried out night and day, and the