The four archetypes

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

The dictionary defines an archetype as something or someone that is a typical representative or example of a group.  Tal Ben-Shahar the author of the book, “Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment” classifies four archetypes of people as the Rat Race Archetype, the Hedonism Archetype, the Nihilism Archetype and the Happiness Archetype.  Below are his definitions of each archetype and my comments on it.

The Rat Race Archetype

The author says, “The rat racer’s illusion is that reaching some future destination will bring him lasting happiness; he does not recognize the significance of the journey.  We started playing this game of putting off enjoying life at the age of 6 when we started school and were told to work hard for good grades so we can get ahead in life.  As a result, we don’t get to enjoy schooling when learning is supposed to be fun in itself and are told to be happy only when we get good grades.”  Many can fall into this mentality, focusing on the goal and not on the journey.  It’s when parents for example get impatient when their baby still can’t walk, or old enough to go to school.  Or when teenagers can’t wait to become adults or reach the age of 18 so they would have more independence and be allowed to go out more often by their parents.  Or an office worker who can’t wait to get promoted so that he or she will have more earnings and build that dream house.

But the irony of it, when children get to be grown up and are seldom at home, parents would complain not seeing them often like they used to when they were kids.  And when teenagers reach adulthood and start working to earn a living, they would pine for the days when they had more free time during college.  And the office worker complaining he or she has more responsibility over many people after getting promoted to a managerial job although he or she is earning well and has built his or her dream home.  Such is the malady of some of us, wishing for what we don’t have yet or what we don’t have anymore.  Happiness means to be contented with what we now have and enjoying the journey as well as the destination in getting what we aspire for.

The Hedonism Archetype

“For the hedonist, only the journey is important.  He or she focuses only on what is pleasurable now. No goals, no long-term planning. Just doing what feels good in the moment. This lifestyle leads to boredom and meaninglessness.” (Tal Ben-Shahar) If we don’t have goals and ambitions in life, then we have nothing to look forward to and nothing to wake up for every morning.  The hedonist which is defined in the dictionary as a person who believes that the pursuit of pleasure is the most important thing in life are usually those addicted to drugs, gambling, alcohol, pornography, etc.  Life for them is too tough to handle, too many problems to tackle, they escape from it by seeking refuge in their addictions.

The Nihilism Archetype

“The nihilist, having given up on both the destination and the journey, is disillusioned with life.  After having experience failure in the past, the nihilist has given up hope adopting a “learned helplessness” mindset.” (Tal Ben-Shahar) These group of people are forced to be contented so to speak with their day-to-day life with no plans or ambitions to improve or grow in the future because of their trauma for having failed. They must be thinking, failure is too costly and embarrassing. Thus, no plans for earning more like putting up a business nor improve oneself by acquiring a college degree or higher.  This kind of people need the virtue of persistence or perseverance.  Life will throw many obstacles at you when we decide on embarking on a goal and it’s normal to experience failure along the way.  Only those who have a never say die spirit will succeed in life.

The Happiness Archetype

This is the individual who has avoided or gotten rid of the other archetypes mentioned.  He or she is happy climbing up the mountain of life enjoying the process of climbing without getting impatient but is persistent until the mountain peak is reached.  He or she then moves on to another goal because there are many more to attain in the different areas in life such as spiritual goals, job-skill or professional goals, knowledge goals, character goals, relationship goals, etc.  Growth according to John Maxwell is one of key ingredients to happiness because we feel happy when we know we are growing in the different aspects of life.