Happiest tribe in the world. Piraha.
- Magical Mindful Living
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
What do you need to be happy?
How about a little mindfulness for a change. Maybe it is raining beyond your window and you are worried that you haven't brought an umbrella. But, you are not yet finished your work. Still two more hours to go. And you cannot predict the future. So, there is no pont in worrying over an umbrella which might even not need.
What about the past? I am sure you have been in the boat of the past, countless times, trying to navigate your own thoughts and tried to make sense. I am talking out of my experience. No matter how much the psychotherapist ask us not to, we cannot. And I have seen Pink puffers and Blue bloaters, trying to drink away their own unpleasent past, in taverns. Their livers pay a heavy toll, as they cannot yet digest these ghosts of the past.
Can you see where I am heading with this? Its about being present in this moment. So, we can feel how refreshing it is to feel little bit of cold wind through the half open window, watching the mistletoe. If you are in a habit of practicing mindfulness you would notice that everything happiness is related to now (Mostly). Infact, worries are side-effects of the past and the future. How about deleting the past and future forever from your life? Can you do that? Of course we cannot. Have you ever asked why?
Because we are believing in time. Which has a past and the future. And we built everything else on this belief. From our language to physics. Hence, past and future is engraved into our lives. But this is not always the case, atleast not for One Amazon (rainforest), human tribe.
Happiest tribe in the world, Piraha
It seems atleast Piraha tribe, did not made the mistake of mixing up an imaginary past and future into their language. Being one of the most simplest language in the world Piraha tribe language is the most controvertial of them all, for language enthusiast. It is not only, not having the past and future tense, Piraha language is "Closed". Meaning, it cannot be combined with unlimited fasion to make a gigantic never ending sentence. But, imagine what it means?
If you were born to Piraha tribe, you would not be able to talk about future. You would not be able to talk about past. Just because you do not have words. I am sure you would have idea about some things, yet, you would not be able to formulate your thoughts. Everything you talk and think would be just about the present.
It is impossible for me to imagine such a state of mind. Even after delebarate practise of mindfulness, thoughts about future and past creeep in all the time to disturb the peace. But I would like to imagine a state where I am not able to do that by default! I wonder someone ever meassured the happiness level of these Piraha people, It would be far beyond any other population norm. I am sure more than Finns.
I will leave you to judge the Piraha Tribe as the happiest tribe in the world. Even better you can see the how they talk with each other, using just present tense. And feel the happiness of the moment, for yourself.
Btw, not being able to speak in the past or future tense sounds like an interesting premise for a movie.
I have on a few occasions unintentionally, but naturally, spoken about deceased individuals in the present tense. The people listening to this were not happy. 😕