The art of happiness.

Once again I have found the pure intellectual levelness of John Cowper Powys to be awe inspiring. This short essay concerns itself with the dogmatic materialism and dogmatic idealism, two polar extremes of society that aim to find happiness in either complete science or complete mysticism. The poetic tongue Powys deploys here is sometimes so rich, I know that a second or third reading with more focus is needed. However, that makes for a lot of depth in a work of only 45 pages. I think even Powys admits that in such a short work it is not feasible to chart the whole extent of this topic. More so I think he concentrates on what happiness may be rather than the art of obtaining it. I do prescribe to the idea that one can never be truly happy (Whatever happiness actually is - one man's happiness is another man's crappiness), more so I appreciate that Powys also recognises this despite the title of the treatise. Who Powys is addressing here is the sensitive being, who finds himself pitted against so much of humanity that makes him feel unhappy. So a bit like saying here is a guide for tall people on how to avoid banging your head.

I recommend this read wholly in as much as Powys is master of painting an idea with such brevity as he can, to degrees of which he can unravel complicated concepts in a single paragraph, concepts that in the hands of another writer may take up several chapters.