Fargin: Happy for Others’ Success in Contemporary Times

Recently, Neeraj Ghaywan’s Hindi film ‘Homebound’ shows close childhood friends aiming at achieving success jointly even with social obstacles, while Mohit Suri’s romantic musical drama ‘Saiyaara’ narrates a story of a couple that helps each other to achieve success in life. This is a love-story which it more about rejoicing in the development and prosperity of your partner.

The concept of Fargin is highly imbued into India’s people’s culture and the society at large, but this does not necessarily mean that it is called by that name. According to the Indian society, glorifying the success of another human being is a morally good, socially beneficial, and spiritually enriching activity. Spiritual and philosophical spirits such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism emphasise compassion, happiness in the well-being of other people, and altruism. Academic and pedagogy in India are full of celebrations by teachers when the students do well. Mentors feel proud of the professional growth of their juniors. When their children achieve ambitions, parents celebrate. This follows up on Fargin today as a contemporary inclusion of collaboration as opposed to competition.

Articulating and feeling happy for others’ success, otherwise known as fargin, is not a new thing. The incorporation of fargin in India’s popular culture and people’s culture is worth mentioning. The representation of fargin in recent Bollywood films is classic in nature.  

In modern society, achievement has often been defined as a competition. Students compete to win rankings, professionals to get a promotion and firms to gain market share. The spread of social media makes this further as they continuously share the achievements of others. The success could be the new jobs, prizes, trips, small businesses, and personal achievements to further motivate people to compare their own lives with those of other people. Despite this competition that is omnipresent competition, there is a strong affective construct that provides a more salutary view of success. This construct is referred to as fargin.

The fargin is a Yiddish word used by the Ashkenazi Jews of the pre-Soviet period, who spoke the Yiddish language. It is understood as an empathetic emotional attribute, the true joy one feels when one sees another person succeed.  In informal language, fargin is the ability to rejoice with the success of another person and not to feel jealous or insecure. Instead of asking a rhetorical question, why them and not me, a person who follows fargin would state, I am glad that you are truly happy. The principle in question is rather simple, but in contemporary society, the use of fargin is extremely limited.

Reading the Past

Firgan was first created in Yiddish-speaking communities in which social solidarity was a key to survival. Yiddish as a language is a demonstration of the linguistic mixture of Germanic, Hebrew, and Slavic, which creates a set of words to express subtle feelings and relationships with others.

In this atmosphere, firgun came out as an act of beneficent feeling towards the success of another. As one of the members of the community made a milestone, whether a business success, an educational accomplishment, or any other personal achievement, the other members responded with pride and cheer instead of envy. This attitude enhanced society's togetherness and confidence. Cheering up of individual achievements encouraged collaboration and alleviation of enmity.

It is important to note that a number of languages have lexical records of negative affective conditions attributed to comparison, including envy, jealousy, and rivalry. The international discourse has been infiltrated by even the German word schadenfreude, which translates to pleasure in the misfortune of another. On the other hand, there are comparatively fewer words which describe the opposite emotion, equanimity in the happiness of another. This is a unique semantic lacuna that Firgan fills.

Fargin in Contemporary Times

The topicality of fargin can be easily understood in the context of modern life, in which comparison is an incentive. The age of digitality makes personal success conspicuously visible. Promotions, awards, business achievements, and personal achievements are announced every day on platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram.

This unceasing exposure breeds social comparison as psychologists refer to it. People compare themselves with others in order to determine their progress. Though comparison may at times trigger improvement, it often brings anxiety or dissatisfaction. Instead of taking the achievement of another person as a threat, a fargin practitioner redefines it as collective joy. This kind of attitude leads to a sense of psychological safety and accommodative relational processes.

Psychological Benefits

Empirical studies in positive psychology reveal the usefulness of affective constructs, such as fargin. Psychologists usually call this ability sympathetic joy or vicarious happiness - to take true pleasure in the success of another. Research has shown that those people who regularly access sympathetic joy develop better friendships and working relations. Good faith celebrations of success build confidence. This emotional orientation can change the culture of a team in the workplace. The colleagues promote the progress of their peers instead of competing with each other internally. 

Promotions are communal and not an opportunity for quiet frustration. When an organisation adopts such a culture, enhanced teamwork, creativity and employee satisfaction are normally witnessed. Therefore, fargin is an emotional virtue and an organisational asset.

Social and Economic Services

Communities, especially in India, also have economic interactions that are influenced by the spirit of fargin. In most of the close-knit communities, people consciously shop and use the services and companies run by members of the community, even when there are better alternatives. Social reciprocity is strengthened by supporting the business of a neighbour or having a friend referred.

Such behaviour creates loyalty and trust. When supported by the community, the firms have increased longevity rates because the relational capital is more dominant than the transactional aspects. Therefore, fargin promotes a community-based economic system whereby the collective victory prevails over personal victory.

Paradigm Shits  

Currently, Fargin is taking a paradigm shift. Even though the term firgun dates back to the Yiddish culture, similar ideas can be found in the Indian philosophy. Mudita is a holistic term in Buddhism and refers to joy based on the happiness of others as a key attribute of kindness and emotional balance. 

Similar to firgun, mudita also believes that life is not a zero-sum game; the success of one individual does not negatively affect the opportunities of the other. Rather, achievement has the power to mobilise and strengthen social connections. The overlap of firgun and mudita highlights the universality of the celebration of the happiness of other people, regardless of cultures.

Deconstructing the Idea of Success

Fargin does not establish success as an individual affair; instead, it invites one to see achievement as a collective affair. The promotion of a colleague is a reason to be proud of a community. Growth in entrepreneurship by a friend is inspirational. By realistically congratulating others on their achievements, society will be nurturing and less competitive. Happiness in such cases goes beyond what an individual has had to achieve. The real essence of fargin lies here. 

In an era where the spirit of comparison tends to overshadow the spirit of appreciation, reconnecting with the wonder of glorifying others is a key emotional competence towards achieving robust relationships and even healthier communities.