The Pursuit of Happiness: A revolution in self-renewal, discussion series with Meg Mott

The Pursuit of Happiness: A revolution in self-renewal
A discussion series with Meg Mott
Thursdays in July at Putney Public Library
“Don’t you know that you are free?
Well, at least in your mind if you want to be” Sylvester Stone

Join Meg Mott, Putney resident and Constitution Wrangler, for a series of evening discussions on the virtues outlined in Vermont’s Constitution. This series is supported in part by a grant from Vermont Humanities, in partnership with the Vermont 250th Commission. Discussions will take place Thursdays in July: July 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd at 6:30pm.
After twenty years of teaching political theory and constitutional law to Marlboro College undergraduates, Meg Mott has taken her love of argument to the general public. In the past, she has facilitated the Debating Our Rights series on the first ten amendments to the Constitution at Putney Public Library.

Meg says:
The Declaration of Independence lists three unalienable rights: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The third unalienable right was understood as the effort to improve one’s character through life-long learning and fearless self-examination. There was no reason to elucidate the meaning of the Pursuit of Happiness in the federal Constitution because the states were already on it.
Vermont’s Constitution focuses on five civic virtues: Justice, Moderation, Temperance, Industry, and Frugality. Each of the virtues provides a path to a strong inner life, less reactive to events we can’t control. Each of the discussions in this series will focus on a path to inner strength. Don’t worry if you miss a session. All paths eventually meet at the summit.

July 2: How Suffering Can Lead to Happiness
The first session focuses on some of the moral philosophers who extolled the pursuit of happiness, such as Cicero and Epictetus, John Adams and Frederick Douglass. How did they travel the path from despair to hope, from enslavement to freedom?

July 9: Take it Light
Moderation and Temperance are two virtues that focus on self-restraint. With moderation, we practice reducing our annoyance at annoying people. With temperance, we practice reducing consumption in order to move more lightly upon the earth. We’ll consider who benefits from our current excesses and what other responses might be available in the moment.

July 16: Laboring for the Common Good
Industry and Frugality are two virtues that focus on how we use our labor. Do we work to excess, frantically trying to complete an immoderate list? Are we spending money we don’t have in an effort to feel more in control? We’ll spend some time imagining a new way to understand our work in this world. How might we liberate ourselves from the anxieties of this anxious age?

July 23: A Moral and Just Imagination
Beloved by protest movements, but sometimes lacking in the protesters themselves, justice means approaching your political enemies as if they could be future friends. We’ll consider a current hot topic in Vermont politics, exploring more just ways to resolve our differences.