Many of us have thoughts running through our heads at all moments of the day. Sometimes they’re simple, such as “What am I going to have for dinner tonight?” After all, not all of us are going to be contemplating life’s greater questions at 11:00 in the morning. Yet, there are times when we find ourselves thinking of questions that are a lot harder than figuring out what to have for dinner. We could be thinking “What came first: the chicken or the egg?” This is a debatable question. One could spend a few hours arguing their points. Perhaps, one could be thinking of a slightly more difficult question, such as “What is the meaning of life?” Is there an answer to this question? Perhaps there are many answers. Some could say that it could be success, or love, or to become rich. On a broader spectrum, these could all fit into one category: Happiness. Why do most of us do what we do? Most of the time, it is because it will lead to us being happy. Is there really any point in life if we are not happy?
In a piece titled “Utilitarianism”, written by John Stuart Mill, he writes about the Greatest Happiness Principle, which says that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness." As humans, we usually tend to do what makes us happy. We treat ourselves to shopping sprees, we pamper ourselves, we get that extra piece of cake for dessert. In doing so, we feel happy. Why deny ourselves something if it is going to do the opposite? Why put ourselves through something if it is going to make us unhappy? The only valid reason for the answer to that question would be to make someone else happy. An example of this would be someone cleaning the house for her mother, not necessarily because she want to, but because she knows that her mom will be happy when she comes home from work. I believe that Mill would agree with this example, seeing as how he wrote: “...the happiness which forms the utilitarian standard of what is right in conduct, is not the agent’s own happiness, but that of all concerned.” By cleaning the house for her mother, not only is she making her mother happy, but she is also making the rest of her family happy, saving them all from a scolding if the house were not clean.
Living a life that you aren’t happy with is like marrying a person that you don’t love-tolerable, at the least, but unsatisfying. Raymond Martin, in his piece “A Fast Car and a Good Woman” writes that “people have meaningful lives not when they are doing what they will to do but when they are doing what they love to do." Why do we do things that we love? It usually brings us some form of satisfaction, whether it be a steady income, pride, fame, or an adrenaline rush, to name a few. All of these result in the feeling of being happy. We wouldn’t be doing whatever it is that we do if we didn’t get some form of satisfaction out of it. There would just be no point. Loving what one does is just one step closer to that meaning of life.
Rene Descartes once said “Cogito ergo sum” which translates to, “I think, therefore I am." If one were to think that he is incapable of something, he becomes discouraged. If a girl were to think that she isn’t pretty, she wouldn’t feel comfortable in her own skin. If we think sad, angry thoughts, we begin to act sad and angry. We must train ourselves to think positive, happy thoughts. Material objects may contribute to our happiness, but ultimately, it comes from within. Happiness is a state of mind. If we are not at peace within ourselves, we cannot be at peace with the world going on outside of ourselves. Descartes writes in his piece “Meditations” that he sees “clearly that there is nothing which is easier for me to know than my mind." We can recognize when we are becoming unhappy, and if we can learn what triggers our unhappiness, we can come up with a method to stop us from getting angry or upset. Of course, there is nothing wrong with these emotions, but if we can avoid it, we might as well.
Leo Tolstoy writes, in “My Confession” that “you are what you call your life.” I think this can also be flipped around to be “your life is what you call yourself.” If we are angry, we are mad at the world and everything in it. If our life is boring and unsatisfying, we begin to think that we, as people, are boring and unsatisfying. Once one becomes happy with who he is, begins feeling comfortable in his own skin, and becomes satisfied with the things he does have, his outlook on life will change. He will no longer think that the world is against him, or that he isn’t worthy of what he has. He will begin to love and cherish his life. Surrounding oneself with people or things that bring us happiness ultimately creates more happiness and helps to get rid of the negative aspects.
Aristotle says that “happiness depends on ourselves” and he couldn’t be more right. We cannot depend upon another human to make us happy. He also seeks an answer “What is the ultimate purpose of human existence” and claims that money, honor, and pleasure are “means toward obtaining happiness, while happiness is always an end in itself.” He goes on to say that happiness is not something that can be gained or lost in a few hours, but only something that we can measure at the end of one’s life, because happiness is an “activity of the soul.”
Socrates once said “I consider to have no wants, the exclusive prerogative of the gods” therefore the fewer wants man has, the nearer he approaches the conditions of the gods. This thought goes hand-in-hand with Buddhism and the ideas of suffering and desires. In following the Buddhist teachings, we start our journey towards the meaning of life. It begins with giving up desire. Desire leads to suffering, so if we were to limit our desires, we would eliminate suffering. The more one wants, the less one owns, and the levels of happiness begin to decrease.
There are many ways for us to achieve happiness, and there is not one right way to do it. In theory, one would agree that it is easy to find happiness, and hold onto it. We have so many things in our lives to be happy about. We are happy that the sun shines, that our friend got that promotion they’ve been wanting and that puppies exist. We rarely find ourselves saying “I love that I feel extremely sad right now. I wish I could keep this feeling forever.” Happiness is more than just a feeling. It is a way of life.
