In his book Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari claims that once humanity solves its three biggest enemies, namely famine, war, and death, its next major agenda would be to achieve eternal happiness. Indeed, most things one does in life are in some way or the other linked towards achieving this ultimate goal. Accumulating wealth, establishing financial stability, and building lasting relationships can all be considered as means or methods to be happy. Having said that, what even is happiness? Is it a feeling? Is it something tangible like wealth? Is it a state of mind? This question suddenly popped up in my mind one breezy summer’s afternoon and has occupied me since. Determined to get to the bottom of this, I turned to philosophy and a little bit of religion for answers.
There turned out to be many different interpretations to this vague term 'happiness'. One of the major thinkers regarding the subject was undoubtedly Aristotle who opined that happiness was not merely a transient moment of pleasure or satisfaction but the totality of all the things one has done throughout their life. According to him, it can only be determined whether a person led a happy life after their life is over. In his famous Nicomachean Ethics, he says, “to be happy takes a complete lifetime; for one swallow does not make spring, nor does one fine day; and similarly one day or a brief period of happiness does not make a man supremely blessed and happy.” Moreover, a happy life, according to Aristotle, would be a virtuous one, where we achieve all aspects necessary for happiness – like health, wisdom, and wealth – whilst accumulating and abiding by all the virtues such as honesty, courage, and diligence. On the contrary, a person who only seeks to indulge in the pleasures of the present will, in his view, never be truly happy.
The chase for such materialistic pleasure is usually a never-ending endeavor and hence is said to never result in true happiness.
It’s not only Aristotle who believed that virtue is the path to happiness. Buddhism also teaches similar ideas and, in a way, it’s even more radical as it says that desire, or the very search for pleasure, is the root of all suffering. From savoring delicious food to consuming drugs, all of them come under the umbrella of pleasure: a temporary experience that usually leaves us in a cycle of dissatisfaction and craving for more. The chase for such materialistic pleasure is usually a never-ending endeavor and hence is said to never result in true happiness. Instead, Buddhists follow what is called the eight-fold path to eliminate dukkha from their lives. This includes eight specific practices of wisdom, ethical conduct, and mental cultivation to achieve ultimate equanimity or tranquility which is in Buddhism synonymous with happiness.
Another interesting approach to happiness I came across was the concept of stoicism – an ancient school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno in the early third century BC. As the story goes, Zeno was a merchant from Cyprus but in an unfortunate turn of events, he got shipwrecked and lost all of his wealth and possessions. After this life-changing experience, he went to Athens and turned to philosophy. Influenced by great thinkers like Socrates, he started teaching his own ideas of stoicism which very much resonated with his life experience as well. Simply, in his perspective, there are two domains in the world: one within our control and one beyond. Happiness is achieved when we only focus on things within our control like our habits and attitude. It’s pretty well summed up in the phrase “Don’t cry over spilled milk”; in other words don’t fret over things that you can’t change or control. Instead of defining happiness, this suggests a way of life which, if followed, will lead us to happiness, whatever that may be.
Happiness is achieved when we only focus on things within our control like our habits and attitude.
One rather oppositely radical approach to the term was 'Hedonism'. According to hedonists, our primary purpose in life is to acquire pleasure and eliminate pain which contradicts with Aristotelian happiness or even the Buddhist teachings. In fact, Pleasure is the only thing that matters in hedonism and it believes that all of our acts should be directed to that end. Even selfless acts in hedonism are considered as ways, albeit indirect ones, to gain pleasure. For instance, helping the poor does not directly give us pleasure but it makes us feel heroic which, in turn, makes us happy and fulfilled. Hence, in hedonism, all things we do are for ourselves and ourselves only. However, this philosophy seems to have been attacked and challenged many times throughout history.
For as long as we think we are happy, no one can tell us otherwise!
These were only some of the many interpretations of happiness I came across. At the end of the day, there appears to be no single definition of happiness. The only thing we can deduce from this discussion is that happiness itself is a very subjective experience. For all its worth, we may all have our own interpretations of happiness. Perhaps then, the most important thing is not a universal definition of happiness but one that works with our individual lives. For as long as we think we are happy, no one can tell us otherwise!
(Anup is an A-levels student studying in Budhanilkantha School.)
(Nepalkhabar encourages students to send in their articles on any issues of their interest. The article should be around 500 to 700 words in English and sent via [email protected]. We will select, edit and duly publish them in our blog section.)
