ABSTRACT
The signers of the Declaration of Independence affirmed that the pursuit of happiness was a natural right of man. The most elementary form of happiness is to feel life flowing through one's own body in an harmonious relationship to the rest of the world—the simple biological joie de vivre. Even today, one can recognize the evidence of a simple joie de vivre among primitive populations, and even among the economically depressed social classes of industrial countries. The psychological need for belonging to a community might give a modern form to the tribal spirit which has so long been basic to the social structure of humankind and is the historical justification of nationalism. A mysterious aspect of human life is that throughout history social groups have abandoned their ancestral habits under the influence of abstract ideas; they have repeatedly rejected their traditions and modified their ways for the sake of an ideal.
