Happiness and the Meaning of Life

Notion of Happiness • The Elements of a Good Life • Happiness as Living Out

Happiness is that which all men aspire for, even if many are not aware of it.
Happiness is the state of a person when he achieves his perfection. He is happy
when he has attained his true good. All life projects are aimed at reaching it.
All goals somehow aim for it.
To understand this subject adequately we will divide the discussion into two
parts. We will look into the problem from the external viewpoint and then from
the internal. Both points of view are complementary.
A person attains happiness when he has achieved his true good. This will also
mean his fulfillment: that means he has lived a full life. A happy person is one
who has developed all the dimensions of his life. He has obtained harmony
among all the powers of his soul.
From the external point of view happiness is attained when a person has
achieved appropriate goals he has set for himself. There must be a supreme
goal that is like the motor of all one's actions and that gives unity and direction
to one's life. This supreme goal has the character of an end and not a means.
All other goals a person might have will all be subordinated to this supreme
goal. This supreme goal will satisfy all the desires of a man's heart. The
classical philosophers have not hesitated to identify this supreme goal as God,
the supreme Good.
From the external or "objective" point of view, happiness consists in the
possession of a set of goods that contribute to a person's development and
fulfillment. We can ask the question: "What goods make a man developed and
fulfilled?" What goods make a life full, good and beautiful?
To complete the picture about what makes a man happy, we have to take a
look at things from the internal point of view: we have to see things from an
experiential and practical point of view. We can ask questions like: What
should I do to live a full life? Can I be truly happy? Is it really worthwhile trying
to be happy?
From the internal point of view, a person's ambitions become very relevant for
his achieving happiness. What does one expect out of his life? What does one
want to achieve with all of one's powers? It’s important to note one's ambitions
in life because a person is happy to the extent that one attains one's ambitions.
Unhappiness comes when we don't achieve our goals and ambitions.
Sometimes we don't attain our ambitions because they are too many or too
high for our real abilities. Or sometimes our aspirations are much too low
compared to what we should really aim for.
Happiness has always a double character: we keep on moving towards it but at
the same time it keeps on eluding us-it is never completely attained.
To study happiness from a personal point of view, we have to examine a
person's aspirations, his life projects and ideals, and the way he tries to
accomplish them. We are truly happy to the extent that we attain our
aspirations. This outlook regarding happiness looks toward the future. It is in
the future where we can attain the goods we long for.
There are still more questions that arise about human happiness. Can we
really be happy? What should we do to be happy? How can we be happy? What
is a happy life? What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of my life? Is
life worth living? Is my life worth living?
There is certainly a previous condition so that a person can be happy: not to be
miserable. In the human life, the higher things cannot exist without the
support of the lower things. For a person to be happy, a minimum of physical
well being is required. To be destitute brings with it all sorts of evil. Radically
happiness consists in the liberation from all evil.
The starting point to understand the true nature of human happiness is to take
into account the natural, temporal, physical and moral limitations of man.
True human happiness can be reached only within the framework of these
limitations. A person can be truly happy if as a primary condition he accepts
sincerely his limited condition.
In our study of happiness we will consider the subject not from the point of
view of liberation from evil but of the achievement and the celebration of the
good. We will attempt to answer the questions we have posed. We will try to
give a realist's answer to these questions. In doing so we have to keep in mind
that there are many people who think that happiness cannot be achieved in
this life. There are also many who have a very different idea of what a good life
is. It is worthwhile studying these ideas since they are all attempts at a
solution to the problem of happiness and the meaning of life.
The Elements of a Good Life
Let us seek to answer the questions we have posed. The classical philosophers
have said that a happy life includes a man's priced possessions: a good family
and children, a home, a moderate amount of wealth, good friends, good
fortune, good name or reputation, honor, good health and above all a life that
is nourished by the contemplation of the truth and the practice of virtue. This
list is not exhaustive nor definitive. It can admit further discussion.
The good life always includes
cludes in the first place a minimum of well being. A
person needs some material things to be at ease, to be ok. He needs to be freed
of worrying about basic material needs for survival so that he can think of
higher things. He needs some things to have a g good
ood quality of life. What does
this quality of life include? These are some of its elements: physical and mental
health and the harmony of the soul; the satisfaction of all human needs; the
presence of adequate natural and technical conditions in our surroundings.
surro
The goods that make up a happy life are not just the useful goods, that is,
those that serve to satisfy a need. There are also goods that are sought by man
because they are valuable and beautiful in themselves
themselves.. What are these things?
One example is wisdom. Another is virtue
virtue.. These realities are valuable in
themselves. When a person has them he is transformed.. He becomes a different
sort of person. With wisdom a person is wise. With justice a person is just. This
makes us realize that what makes for happiness is not in the order of having
but in the order of being. This was the basic teaching of Socrates:: to be happy
a man should be virtuous.
In as much as the natural state of man is to live with other men, a man must
practice virtue related to his fellow men. And it is universal experience that
shows that a great part of human happiness consists in loving a person and
being loved in return. The giving of oneself for the other in a loving relationship
and the receiving of the gift of the other person brings about such joy that for
this reason people consider that life is worth living. There is as much
happiness in a life as there is love in it.
We ought to remember that what is highest and most sublime in man is found
in his interiority. And so, we will search in vain if we look for man's happiness
in things external. So let us examine happiness from the interior point of view.
Happiness as Living Out Expectations
It is not possible to adequately understand the content of happiness if we forget
that man is someone situated in time and in very concrete circumstances but
at the same time he is always looking forward to the future, to what he has to
do and what he wants to be.
Happiness primarily has to do with future things. Man is a being that looks
forward. The knowledge of being able to attain a future good fills a person with
hope at present. Hope gives happiness even if at present the person might be
suffering a pain or a setback. On the contrary, even if a person might be
enjoying good things at present, his happiness quickly disappears at the
thought that he will not obtain a precious good that he longs to achieve in the
future. One is happy when one is secure in the present moment because of
being secure about the future.
If we are happy about things we aspire for, it follows that to be happy one
needs imagination; and some creativity and daring to want things and to
dream. The creative imagination is the forger of blueprints for happiness. It
follows that two great obstacles to happiness are fear and the lack of
imagination. Fear can prevent a person from doing big tasks or even simple
tasks, the accomplishment of which can lead a person to happiness.
The lack of creative imagination can lead to a life that is dry and boring, one in
which the person does not know what to look forward to.
Happiness is something that affects a person deeply and radically. It is not a
feeling. It is not the same as comfort, pleasure or satisfaction. It is not a habit.
It is a state of the very person himself.
For this reason, it is very possible that a person be truly happy in the midst of
physical sufferings. The contrary is also true: a person can be very unhappy
even if he enjoys so much physical comforts, pleasures and good fortune.
Happiness comes to persons when there is conformity between what a person
aspires for and the way he lives his life. This inner conformity is what usually
gives a person that peace and inner strength to face contradictions and
difficulties without becoming unhappy. When a person is happy with a true
inner happiness, all other things in his life, even the trivial ones become
imbued with that happiness. The contrary is also true: when a person is
unhappy even the things that normally make people happy are for him
distasteful.
Happiness ought to be forged in the ordinary things of daily life. A good formula
to achieve it is to acknowledge and accept one's personal conditions and
limitations and strive for excellence within these.
Life as a Task
Youth is the phase of life in which persons usually lay down the blueprint of
their life project. It is the time for ambitions and aspirations. Maturity consists
in recognizing and going through the distance between the ideals and the
current state of one's life.
A good life project and a well ordered life are the result of having convictions
that govern a person's actions in the long term. These convictions give direction
and meaning to a person's life. They help him achieve his end. One's
convictions contain the truths that inspire one's life project.
To live out one's life is the main task of each person. It is difficult because we
are not trained beforehand to live it. We do the task as we go along. Every
moment of one's life is always something new even if we have done the same
thing a thousand times before. If we regard our lives as the task we must do to
achieve our fulfillment and this is what makes for happiness, so we can think
that our life is the task we have to do to reach happiness. And since happiness
has the character of hope, so life is built on the foundation of hope.
Life as a task has the following fundamental elements:
1) Aspirations. We can define this as the anticipated realization of our desires
and projects. Aspirations are based on hope, which gives a person optimism
and impulse to move forward. When a person does not have hope, pessimism
sets in and a person gets paralyzed in his actions and in his personal growth. A
pessimistic person thinks that he cannot do the task or there is nothing he can
do. Aspirations impel a person to reach higher than what he has achieved thus
far. It gives light and joy to life. It makes a person enthusiastic.
2) All tasks require a beginning, which we call a mission. A life project is not
constructed in isolation. There is a source of human life project that gives the
meaning of the whole life task. It is something the person discovers after
pondering on the circumstances and events of one's life. A person sees his
mission in life as that for which he was given existence. It is the source of a
person's goals, ambitions and aspirations.
3) As said, a life task is never achieved in isolation. After a mission a person
needs the help of others to fulfill it. In the accomplishment of any life task,
there is always the help of parents, teachers, friends and colleagues.
4) All human tasks involve difficulties and risks. Difficulties can be external or
internal. A person may encounter persons who might oppose his projects, or
even his very same person. Or a person might encounter an environment that
is not very conducive to his development as a person. These are external
difficulties. It can also happen that a person is not very virtuous and can
easily get discouraged in undertaking projects. The lack of virtue or
determination is an internal difficulty.
5) All human lives taken as tasks have beneficiaries. The good that a person
seeks and that will contribute to his personal development usually benefits not
only the person concerned but also many others. When a person does not have
someone to whom he can share the good that he acquires with his life task, his
life usually becomes boring and without meaning. Man is a social creature.
These are five elements we can identify in a life that is seen as a task. When
any of these elements is missing, life turns out to be incomplete. If, for
instance, a person does not see his mission, he will not know what to do and
his life will not have direction. If he does not have aspirations, even if he knows
his mission, he will not move forward. If he does not receive help, he will
flounder at the many difficulties he will encounter. If he does not meet
difficulties, he will be soft and a spoiled brat. If his life does not benefit the
others, it will not be of use.
The elements of a life task that we have just described are present in great
tasks like the discovery of the New World, or the building of great monuments.
But they are also present in any ordinary task: taking exams, writing a thesis,
making a home and doing one’s professional work.
Happiness can be present at the beginning of a task when one aspires to a
certain goal, since the hope of accomplishing a task can give joy. Happiness
will certainly be present at the end, when a person has achieved his goals.
The Meaning of Life
We can describe the meaning of life as the perception of the capacity for
fulfillment (or the lack of it) that one’s life is taking. When a person discovers
the meaning of his life, he is able to see where it is going. He has a perception
of its general direction and of its final destination. A life has meaning when a
person sees that he has a task to accomplish and undertake with his life. This
meaning is what gives stability, drive and even happiness to each day of the life
of that person. When a person finds meaning in his life, he begins each day
saying yes to it, affirming it: he can continue even if there are adversities and
difficulties. He is happy. He is convinced that life is worth living.
When a person does not find meaning in his life, he is often tempted to end it
all: what’s the use, he will think. There is nothing to live for, nothing to look
forward to. A person who does not find meaning in his life will be moved to
despair.
To find meaning in life is not the same as happiness, but it is a necessary
condition to finding happiness in this life.
There are many people these days who do not find the meaning of their lives or
the meaning of life itself. They do not know where they are going, what they
want to do with their lives, what they are doing things for, why they are
suffering or working so hard. These people lack convictions, great truths that
will guide their lives, strong values to live by and that inspire. They are not
motivated. They lack drive. They don’t see any reason why one should work so
hard or should risk too much. This state of affairs is very common in a
widespread sickness these days called depression.
What happens when a person does not find meaning in his life? Usually, such
a person ends up looking for happiness in the pleasures and comforts of this
life. This will just lead to lives that are full of emptiness. Pleasures and
comforts do not satisfy the human heart. The other possibility is that a person
thinks that life is really useless. One then falls into nihilism.
To be able to respond adequately to the question what is the meaning of life, a
person needs to have a task that will capture his mind and heart and he has to
be equipped with great truths that are the answers to the great questions of
life. Whoever possesses these truths know what is truly important and what
truly matters. Expressed in very simple terms we can say that a person can
find true happiness if he can respond, theoretically and in practice to these
questions: Why am I here? Why do I exist? What should I do with my life?
Acts of Leisure
A person is happy when he has achieved a task; when he has reached a goal.
After which, a person would want to stop and rest and contemplate and enjoy
the good that he has achieved. This contributes to more happiness in a person.
This time that is dedicated to stop and rest, and contemplate the higher goods
is what the classical philosophers have called leisure. When we say “higher
goods” we are referring to things that are not just useful: these are things that
are valuable and beautiful in themselves. Leisure is the loving contemplation of
the things we love. Leisure also brings happiness to a person.
Leisure is not just dedicated to be “paralyzed” in contemplating the good and
the beautiful. Leisure is celebrating that good and beauty. It is dynamic.
Leisure brings with it certain acts, which we can call acts of leisure. These acts
have these characteristics.
1) The ends or purposes of acts of leisure are included in the very same acts.
These acts are done for their own sake and not as a means to some other
utilitarian end. For example, if I sing, or play the piano, or sketch because I
enjoy doing these things for leisure, I don’t pursue any other end but to sing,
play the piano or sketch. We do acts of leisure because we enjoy doing them.
2) Acts of leisure are done in special times and moments. For instance, we
celebrate a fiesta on special occasions. I chat with my family after work. When
a person engages in acts of leisure, the activity can be very restive at the same
time absorbing, that time seems too short for the activity. When we are
watching a good basketball game or a good movie, we are not aware of how
time passes.
3) Acts of leisure include acts that have to do with laughter, jokes and comedy.
Laughter is momentary happiness. The great capacity of the human person to
laugh and to make jokes is based on his ability to bring things into the realm of
leisure: to contemplate things in a different light. A person cannot be serious
all the time. Laughter is needed. It liberates a person from being enslaved to
things. By making jokes and by laughter, a person rises above the necessity of
surviving.
4) Games have a big role to play in making men happy. Children seem to be the
happiest group of people: they play a lot and their work is their play. When
people play (a game of chess, cards, soccer, etc., it seems that time is
suspended and problems are irrelevant for the moment.
Happiness and Destiny
Happiness seems to be very related to an end. Having attained a goal or an
aspiration can make a person happy.
Now there is a reality in a person's life that is the source of much happiness: it
is to love and to be loved. Loving is the giving of oneself to another person.
Loving requires another person who is the recipient of the acts of love. It also
requires that it be reciprocated, otherwise it will be frustrated. What makes a
person most happy is not a thing but another person. An unhappy life is one
that is deprived of other persons.
Destiny in the present context means the end or purpose of a person's life
regarding the persons one would love.
The present life brings for each person a destiny that would make each person
happy. Death marks the end of this destiny. One is lead to ask the question: is
this the only destiny for a person?
Man's longing for happiness would be frustrated and without sense if this life is
all there is. A person is a being that is open to the infinite and his longing for
happiness also has an infinite character. A mere human person, no matter how
good he or she may be cannot completely satisfy the desires for happiness of
the human person. We come now to realize that it is only an infinitely good and
perfect person can make a person happy whether in this life or the next.
Different Models of Happiness
What we have said so far about happiness is quite different from what people
commonly say and think about it. Let us examine different theories about
happiness.
1) Nihilism. This theory states that life does not have meaning. The question
about happiness has no answer. For a nihilist happiness is unattainable: there
is no such thing as happiness.
Nihilism leads a person to live for nothing and for no one. There are different
forms of this.
a) Despair. This is the extreme form that nihilism takes. A person who despairs
has lost all hope. He thinks that life just brings with it sufferings. There is
nothing good and worthwhile that will come out of it.
There are many forms of despair. Some of these can even lead to psychoses.
People who fall into despair get tired of life and so, for them, suicide seems a
plausible option. People who fall into despair need a helping hand. They have
lost objectivity completely. To leave a person in despair is a lack of humanity.
b) Fatalism. For the fatalist man is not the lord of his destiny. These people
believe that there is such a thing as fate and chance, that governs the events of
the cosmos and gives to each man joy or pain in a necessary way. For a fatalist
there is no freedom: it is eliminated by an irrational, blind and necessary force
because of which I am not the lord of my own life. The only way to happiness is
to accept the fate that has befallen one. The only possible attitude in the face of
fatalism is pessimism: things cannot change and events are inevitable.
For a fatalist it is not worthwhile to be passionate about anything. The Greek
tragedy is imbued with this outlook. The only thing left to do is to try to
minimize the pain. There is no room for happiness in fatalism. For the fatalist,
even love is filled with pain.
c) The absurd. Living a senseless life is to live the absurd. When a person is
made to perform acts that he does not identify as coming from his will or are
not relevant to him, then he can think that life is absurd. Life becomes like a
theater: it is hypocritical and a farce. The person might be compelled to act in a
certain way that for him is devoid of meaning and of reason.
The 20th Century has produced so many artists, writers and thinkers of the
absurd as compared to previous eras. It seems that contemporary man sees
himself as a prisoner of political systems, of technology and of structures that
dominate and overwhelm him. A person can adopt two basic attitudes towards
the absurd: to accept it (in which case we have pessimistic fatalism) or to reject
it.
d) Cynicism. The cynic is the mock skeptic. He does not believe in people's
ability to achieve anything and so he lives in jest. He might make light of
anything, even the things that have to be taken seriously. He might put on a
face, a mask, that apparently might be smiling; but inside there is nothing-
emptiness.
e) Practical skepticism. There is a kind of nihilism that is not thorough and
heavy. Persons of this kind are pessimistic. These persons think that any effort
to obtain arduous goods always end in failure. And so it is not worthwhile
pursuing anything.
There is a deeper form of pessimism: that of the person who thinks that even
the truth is simply a mask for falsehood. This is a more radical pessimism. The
radical pessimist does not have aspirations or confidence in himself or in
others. It could be the result of bitter negative experiences. The radical
pessimist can be a very bitter person.
As has been said, there is a kind of pessimism that comes with fatalism. Such
persons think that since man is finite and imperfect, his lot is to fail.
f) The escapist. There are persons who might be overwhelmed by the burden of
bitter experiences, who are pessimists, but they do not see suicide as a
plausible option: they escape. They usually do this by ingesting substances:
alcohol and drugs. By doing so it seems to these persons they enter a
transitory state of happiness that otherwise they will never experience. The
substances they use impair the very faculty that is the basis for true
happiness: reason.
Substance abuse is a counterpoint to nihilism and pessimism. No one can
support a constant state of boredom or pessimism. And so, some people have
recourse to alcohol or drugs to "add some spice to life" or simply to escape from
it all.
After a momentary relief, sadness always accompanies the lives of escapists.
Their attitude is based on the temporary deprivation of reason and will with the
consequent loss of freedom. With this deprivation they impoverish themselves
as persons.
Escapists cannot escape for long: after the substances have worn out, the
escapist is bound to face the same reality he was escaping from. Each time he
returns, he has less and less strength to carry the burden of reality. In the end,
escapism is not a plausible option for happiness.
2. Carpe diem. This phrase means "seize the day". It tells us to make good use
of each moment: to enjoy the day. The expression comes from Horace. What we
might want to be and to do, we should not delay in doing lest the opportunity
pass us by. We must live the present as intensely as we can and enjoy the good
things life has to offer (because indeed there are good things). What usually
happens to people who adopt this attitude is that they identify happiness and
the meaning of life with pleasure. The intensity of this attitude varies in people;
but they have the same characteristics.
1) For those who identify happiness with pleasure, virtue and pleasure are
opposed to each other. All pleasure is sinful. To be good is boring: to be truly
happy we have to get rid of rules and taboos. These prevent us from enjoying
the good things of life.
2) For some people, like Rousseau, human nature by
itself is good.
And so, to be happy, one has to give free reign to
human nature. Virtue and moral goodness repress the
natural forces of human nature. They are anti-natural.
Culture and social life have too many forms of
repression.
3) What take precedence in man is his body. The spiritual is not as important
as the bodily needs. Anything that has to do with the body becomes very
important: health, diet, looks, exercise, rest. The care of man is reduced to the
care of his body.
4) I have to take advantage of the pleasures life is giving me now. The future is
something I dread. it is so uncertain. For these people, commitments are
senseless. It is the present which all the pleasure you can derive from it that
truly matters.
The weak points of this outlook are easy to detect.
a) Happiness is not the same as pleasure. This latter has these characteristics:
it is momentary and allows repetition. It is partial in nature: it affects only one
dimension of human life (sensible part of man) and from this area of life it
seems to fill up that life completely. It may not affect the nucleus of the person
such that a person may experience many pleasurable things and yet remain
fundamentally unhappy.
Pleasures can cause dependence and satiety, to a point where a person ends
up hating the pleasurable good. Happiness, on the contrary, affects the totality
of the person and it does so more deeply. The intensity of happiness does not
produce satiety but instead a desire for happiness that is deeper and more
intense.
b) To seek happiness only in the present is to reject the hope of future goods.
Happiness can also be found in the hope and certainty of future goods. In fact,
sometimes, the hope of future goods can give a person more happiness than
enjoying a present good. Even the enjoyment of present good can turn bitter if
a person does not have hope for any future good.
c) The carpe diem has limited application in human life. It cannot apply to
aspects of human life like sickness, pain, sorrow and professional work. The
pleasure seeking person does not know how to act in the face of pain and
suffering. He finds no meaning in them. The hedonist is usually an immature
and self-centered person, incapable of solidarity with other men.
3) The Pragmatist. One very common outlook regarding happiness is to think
that one obtains it by assuring one's own interests. One should not take big
risks. We must just make sure we have a modest and comfortable existence.
We must be moderate in our ambitions. This outlook is also very self-centered.
These persons will act or collaborate with others only when they see they can
get something useful out of it for themselves. For the pragmatist all persons
have just one goal: their own interests.
4) Well-being as happiness. This is another very common outlook about
happiness: it is to think that it is found in what is really only a prerequisite to
it: well-being.
What can have caused the spread of this mentality? The developments in the
areas of technology, medicine, production of so many goods have made life very
comfortable. This outlook does not identify happiness with pleasure but rather
with the absence of pain.
Many people these days believe that as long as peoples attain a certain
standard of living, sufficiency of material goods and security for the future,
people will be happy. The task to assure peoples' happiness is frequently
thought as primary task of civil authority. These people fail to realize that to
seek happiness is a very personal task.
In reality well-being does not assure happiness. How many persons there are in
rich countries who fall into depression. These persons might have more than
enough for living a comfortable life, they might have opportunities for
recreation, they might have all the amenities of modern life and yet they are not
happy. Happiness is to be found not in well-being, which is just a prerequisite
of it, but in doing things that fulfill the person.
5) Happiness in Power and Money. There are people who think that happiness
can be found in power. This is the capacity and force that enables one to
dominate the others.
A fundamental source of power is money. The temptation to find happiness in
money is a very strong one because money can buy many things.
There is a basic difficulty with money: it cannot be shared; it can only be
distributed. This is why money breeds discord and hence, unhappiness.
6) Happiness in the Power to Dominate Others. There are some people who
have a pronounced tendency to dominate others. They are moved by a desire to
wield this power even if it be in miserably trivial things. In every man there is
that tendency to dominate the others and not allow oneself to be dominated by
others. The classics have called this tendency hubris, pride.
This desire to dominate the others usually manifests itself in the despotic
authority. This authority sees slaves and not free subjects. This outlook sees
not men but objects.
According to this outlook one has to dominate the others otherwise the others
end up dominating you. Justice is just fictitious. Respect for others' rights and
property is naivetè. Justice is really what favors the interests of the powerful.
Justice is really the law that the strong impose on the weak.
At the basis of this outlook is the conviction that there are no disinterested
actions. Each person acts moved by personal interests. Also people with this
outlook despise the traditional concept of justice as a value to uphold and
foster.
The logic of this outlook is might is right. This outlook also employs the power
of money. These people would use money to open doors, soften wills, buy
persons without any qualms of conscience.
The will for power leads very quickly to unhappiness for the following reasons:
1) it does not respect persons as ends in themselves; 2) it falls into the worst
kinds of tyranny; 3) it pits persons against each other; 4) it destroys law,
respect for the law, justice and community; 5) it embitters lives because it
justifies lies, calumnies, resentments, rejection of the truth, manipulating
persons; 6) it destroys all other values and in the end society itself.
This outlook has very frightening consequences and yet there are still many
who adopt it. The tendency to dominate others must be a very strong force in
human nature.