Autumn angst: from Eeyore to Edgar (Allan Poe)

I find this time of year to be bleak. I don’t know quite why.

It’s odd because I like this weather the most.

I say “Hooray!” for crunchy leaves and crisp outdoor air and warm colors and everything, but other than that, the autumn sensation is rather dull.

The mid-October mood for me consists of random bouts of moping and undertones of ho-hum glum.

It’s an Eeyore feeling, I think. I blame the fact that we’re fall-break-less. Although we’re at the halfway point, I’m tragically indifferent.

After all, there’s still a whole other month to plow through before we reach the rest stop in Turkeyhaven. Sigh. Is that pessimistic or realistic?

Regardless, I’ve been trying to figure out how to escape this funk, trying to get back to “happy,” or at least, to “not quite as gruff, and able to cope with the college monotony.”

I obviously don’t want to be a miserable, melancholic, Eeyore-human hybrid, so let’s turn to the most contented figure I can think of, the Dalai Lama.

Yes, the jolly teachings of Buddhism will guide us. For example, the first Noble Truth: “To live is to suffer.” Happy, happy, happy, right? It’s phrase worthy of any Life is Good t-shirt, for sure.

But this dismal Buddhist slogan actually has a hidden message on happiness, despite being strikingly similar to Eeyore’s phraseology.

Just think of all those Laughing Buddha figurines.

So what’s the secret, Buddhism? Where does happiness come from?

Naturally, the Four Noble Truths are just the beginning to a complicated set of teachings.

Instead of following the road of yellow brick to acquire our desires, Buddhism has the Eightfold Path.

But going along the Buddhist route teaches one to abandon attachments and cravings, not to obtain them.

Because without desires, you ideally won’t be distracted by the past or future, you can be content with the here and now, break out of Samsara’s cycle of suffering and rebirth, attain enlightenment in the state of Nirvana, smile a lot, etc.

Sounds great, but here’s a problem: I don’t want to do the work. Not now, anyway.

And I want to want things: naps, cookies and milk, warm socks, bubble baths, an official fall break. ...Why shouldn’t I want these things?

Plus, I’m drained enough this semester as it is.

Implementing whatever “Right Intention” means (no. 2 of the Eightfold Path) into my life seems too daunting.

With this, let’s drift to Edgar Allan Poe. He might not be as apathetic, but he tends to share my current sense of gloominess.

The rapping, tapping raven at the chamber door and the beating heart under the floor boards fit the typical eerie, supernatural Poe style, but I’ve recently come across some other lines from Poe that aren’t so odd.

They’re rather down-to-earth. And dare I say ... good-humored?

In the obscure text “The Domain of Arnheim,” Poe introduces “the four essential conditions for happiness.”

Paraphrased by Charles Baudelaire, these essentials are: “life in the open air, the love of a woman, the indifference to any feeling of ambition and the creation of a new type of beauty.”

Pretty straight-forward. But how do we know if these four ingredients for happiness are real? Fear not. We can test Poe’s theory via Eeyore.

Eeyore does, in fact, live outdoors, so that’s one point.

He might not have the love of a “woman,” but Christopher Robin is close enough, so we’ll count two. And certainly no other Hundred Acre Wood inhabitant is as “indifferent” as Eeyore…

But Eeyore only has three out of four. I don’t think he ever attempts to create beauty.

Since Eeyore lacks one of these essentials, and is incessantly miserable, Poe’s list (logically) has merit! And it’s so marvelously simple!

It rivals the Eightfold Path, at least.

Isn’t it possible that Buddhism’s concepts of “Right Livelihood” and “Right Effort” correspond to Poe’s numbers one and three?

The reality that “Right Livelihood” actually refers to earning a living legally and peacefully, e.g. no drug dealings or slave trade, is beside the point.

Happiness needn’t be so tricky.

There are about a billion different means and quotes to steer an old stuffed donkey to happiness, but I think it boils down to not taking everything so seriously.

We might not be able to throw our GPA’s out the window, but we can recognize that grades and stress aren’t the meaning of life.

So until Thanksgiving, I’m going to kick my autumn angst.

That’s right, no more sulking.

I’m making my own fall break this weekend and heading home.


E-mail: paihenry@indiana.edu