Chasing Happiness
“Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.”
—Søren Aabye Kierkegaard
The struggle for happiness is inherently subjective, for it depends on our perception of ourselves and our circumstances. In answering how we can become happy, the following five philosophers dissect the question into two parts: the procurement of happiness and the avoidance of pain. To note, most of their approaches assume secure food and shelter as well as health for ordinary physical activities for their readers. With that, let’s dig in!
Aristotle
Once we’ve identified virtue on our own terms, we must exercise virtuous acts at all times. To be virtuous is not a box we can check off once and for all by doing simply one virtuous act. Instead, it is a state of being: we must always think and do the virtuous thing.
Becoming virtuous requires difficult choices. For instance, we can agree that captains helping teammates to improve their volleyball skills outside of practice is virtuous. However, as captains, we may be tempted to stay in the comfort of our bed and indulge in YouTube videos instead of getting up, walking to the gym in the cold, and bringing both enthusiasm and leadership onto the court. The lesser good of staying in bed promises immediate pleasure and is, therefore, more tempting. Nevertheless, virtuous persons would endure the chill of the wind on their way to the gym and the soreness of their muscles when showcasing techniques to their teammates. It is clear: we must sacrifice some immediate pleasure for a greater good to be virtuous.
Photo by Kristóf Vizy
Just like becoming virtuous, eudaimonia is a forever-going journey. As Aristotle puts it, “as it is not one swallow or one fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes a man blessed and happy” (1098a18). As we continue striving towards eudaimonia, remember that the journey of becoming virtuous will get easier. Through habituation of virtuous acts, we will be virtuous naturally out of instinct.
Note:
Aristotle (384 BC–322 BC) was a student of Plato. His philosophy profoundly influenced the Medieval philosophies. As such, Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), an Italian theologian who sought to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology, simply referred to him as “The Philosopher.” The quotes in this article are from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, cited in Stephanus numbers.
Eudaimonia—that is the ultimate goal of life according to Aristotle, for it “is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else” (Nicomachean Ethics, 1097a30-40). Eudaimonia loosely refers to a state of human flourishing and is often translated as happiness. Therefore, to achieve eudaimonia is to achieve happiness.
The first step towards eudaimonia is to become virtuous, since “happiness turns out to be an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue” (1098a13). So how do we define virtue? To Aristotle, virtue is a golden mean between two extremes, one of excess and one of deficiency. For instance, courage is one of the four cardinal virtues in classical philosophy. As shown in the illustration below, courage lies between two extremes: rashness and cowardice.
Virtue is a balance between two extremes. Moreover, it does not necessarily lie in the middle of two extremes. Instead, virtue should be defined relative to us: a person’s golden mean may be another’s extreme, just like an athlete’s diet is of extreme excess to a child.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Trigger warning: extreme pessimism, WWII imprisonment
To Schopenhauer, happiness is nonexistent. Moreover, what we refer to by “happiness” should be more appropriately described as “the reduction of misery.”
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German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) is often regarded as an extreme pessimist. He famously maintained that “life swings like a pendulum backward and forward, between pain and boredom.” With this outlook, he spent hours of his bored and painful life in long and somber self-imposed isolation, proclaiming “were I a King, my prime command would be—Leave me alone.” Due to his solitary nature, Schopenhauer’s approach to happiness—or the reduction of pain—can be achieved regardless of external circumstances.
Pendulum Template Vibrations Pendulum Boards Board. (n.d.). Max Pixel. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://www.maxpixel.net/Board-Pendulum-Boards-Pendulum-242740.
Schopenhauer, similar to hedonistic philosophers, sees happiness as “no more than the absence of pain and suffering; the moment of relief occasionally felt between the fulfillment of one desire and the pursuit of the next” (Woods). To put this into perspective, imagine the satisfaction when you finally hand in your paper. What makes you “happy” here, Schopenhauer would argue, is not the positive state of accomplishing your work but the negative state of relief from the anxieties of not finishing your paper on time. This “joy” is effervescent since a host of stress, such as worries about your grades and your next assignment, will quickly arise.
The key to feeling happy, then, is recognizing and appreciating these short moments of cessation of pain and suffering.
Based on Schopenhauer’s work, David Bather Woods, a senior teaching fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick (Coventry, United Kingdom), suggests two things we can do to feel happy.
I, recall past pain. Schopenhauer observes that “our cognition of satisfaction and pleasure is only indirect when we remember the suffering and privations that preceded them and ceased when they appeared.” In other words, we often do not realize we are content when we are satisfied. Therefore, recalling past sufferings helps us realize the current moment is free of past stress, which subsequently makes us happy. This kind of contentment is described by Primo Levi when documenting his imprisonment at Auschwitz in his book If This Is a Man (1947). In between forced physical labor, Levi stood “stiffly, [his] eyes vacant, mouth open, and arms dangling, sunk in the ephemeral and negative ecstasy of the cessation of pain.”
II, Schopenhauer also believes “we rarely think about what we have, but always in what we lack.” Therefore, we may seek pleasure in schadenfreude—a malicious joy we experience when contemplating the misfortune of someone else. In expressing the joy from schadenfreude, Schopenhauer quotes from De Rerum Natura by Greek Epicurean philosopher Lucretius:
“It is a joy to stand at the sea when it is lashed by stormy winds,
To stand at the shore and to see the skipper in distress,
Not that we like to see another person in pain,
But because it pleases us to know that we are free of this evil.”
Primo Levi in Library 1983. (n.d.). Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Primo_Levi_in_Library_1983.jpg.
Gandalf's Gallery. (2009). Claude-Joseph Vernet - An Italian Harbour in Stormy Weather [c.1740-50]. flinckr. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/gandalfsgallery/17844138088.
Both Lucretius and Schopenhauer stress that we should not intentionally cause misfortune to others. Nevertheless, we can revel in avoiding another’s mishap because it reminds us that we are free of that distress. Therefore, try reflecting on all the sufferings that were possible for us but luckily did not happen!
Besides these two ways of feeling happy inferred by Woods, Schopenhauer listed a series of guidances on how to avoid unnecessary pain in “The Art of Being Happy” (“Die Kunst, glücklich zu sein”), a manuscript found among his personal notes after his death. This manuscript was interpreted and shared online by Jennifer Delgado Suarez, a psychotherapist who used to be an award-winning professor of psychology at Universidad de Cienfuegos. I will relay four quick rules you can follow to be happier here:
1. "Control Your Expectations"
Do not indulge in imaginations of favorable possibilities because they are all, as Schopenhauer puts it, “pregnant with disappointment if not fulfilled.” Rather, Schopenhauer hopes we “focus on all the adverse possibilities, which would lead us to take precautions.” This approach is similar to the second half of the proverb “hope for the best and prepare for the worst.” In doing so, we can develop a more realistic expectation that allows us to overcome challenges.
2. "Avoid Envy and Comparisons"
Schopenhauer wrote in his manuscript that “nothing is [as] implacable or cruel as envy.” When we compare ourselves to others, we are dedicating time and energy to a task destined to be unfruitful because we almost always end up feeling bad about ourselves. Instead of drowning in the sea of comparison, accept we are all unique and focus on bettering yourself.
3. "Undertake and Learn"
Always plan for the future and move steadily forward toward a goal. Schopenhauer reminds us that “there is no favorable wind for those who do not know what port they are going to.” Therefore, know your “port”, embrace both challenges and blessings that come with the “wind” as you progress.
4. "Make That Happiness Depend Only On You"
Schopenhauer, who lived a self-sufficient life of solitude himself, holds “happiness belongs to those who are self-sufficient, because all external sources of happiness and enjoyment are, according to their species, insecure, defective, fleeting, and subject to chance.” This philosophy, in Suarez’s words, means “if our happiness depends on others, then it is not ours.” Therefore, do not hope for external factors to bring you pleasure. Instead, look inward for reasons to be satisfied, grateful, and happy.
Ref:
Delgado Suárez, J. (2020, February 4). â–· the 10 rules of Schopenhauer to be happy here and now. Psychology Spot. Retrieved November 2, 2021, from https://psychology-spot.com/schopenhauer-on-happiness/.
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Woods, D. B. (2020, August 18). For Schopenhauer, happiness is a state of semi-satisfaction: Aeon Essays. Aeon. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://aeon.co/essays/for-schopenhauer-happiness-is-a-state-of-semi-satisfaction.
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Schalkx, R., Bergsma, A. Arthur’s advice: comparing Arthur Schopenhauer’s advice on happiness with contemporary research. J Happiness Stud 9, 379–395 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-006-9039-9
Friedrich Nietzsche
Trigger Warning: this perspective touches on a range of human experiences: ambition and depression.
Happiness is a state of striving for more. It is a fluid process that raises the bar for “happiness” forever higher.
Friederich Nietzsche (1844-1900) is a German philosopher famous for proclaiming “God is dead.” His philosophy, though heavily influenced by Schopenhauer, is teeming with heroism and grandeur. As such, in The Will to Power, an unfinished work he began in 1883 to reflect on human values, Nietzsche argues “life is a desire to increase.” In this vein, staying alive is not enough to be happy, for we are not satisfied with maintaining our current state. Instead, we have a drive to “power: the power to suck in more power.” This process of self-overcoming “is a measure of freedom… freedom [of] being understood as positive power.” Therefore, Nietzsche answers the question “What is happiness” in The Antichrist as “the feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome.”
The philosophy implies that happiness should be procured indirectly, since “joy is only a symptom of the feeling that power is reached” (The Will to Power). Rather, we must work to expand our power in some form. Happiness would ensue as a by-product of our endeavor.
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We cannot quit this quest for power if we want to be happy. As Nietzsche explicates in Twilight of the Idols, “man [should] not strive after happiness.” Therefore, if we quit this game to expand power such as our knowledge, our impact, our status, our wealth, to simply pursue happiness through inner peace,
Photo by Suzanne D. Williams
“we are foolishly trying to escape from the contingency that is the very essence of happiness” for Nietzsche (Medium).
We have to take risks. Just like business investment, greater return often implies greater risk. Nevertheless, we must rise up above all difficulties we encounter. Remember, if we pass on the opportunity for more, the static life we live guarantees us unhappiness.
Photo by Mario Dobelmann
Recognizing the fact that pleasure and pain are two sides of the same coin may help us undertake challenges. This is very similar to Schopenhauer’s idea of desiring and procuring, unhappiness and a brief moment of relief. Our pain comes from realizing what we desire is what we do not have, while our pleasure comes from the realization of acquiring the desired state. Nevertheless, the bar to happiness would be raised again as we eye on something grander, something we do not have already. As Nietzsche beautifully puts it in The Joyful Wisdom, “whoever wanted to learn to ‘jubilate up to the heavens’ would also have to be prepared for ‘depression unto death.’” If pain and pleasure are inseparable, then embrace risks with your will to power!
Ref:
Doorn, M. van. (2019, June 17). Friedrich Nietzsche on the secret ingredient for happiness. Medium. Retrieved November 30, 2021, from https://medium.com/the-understanding-project/friedrich-nietzsche-on-the-secret-ingredient-for-happiness-643da473d919.
Friedrich Nietzsche, circa 1875. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#/media/File:Nietzsche187a.jpg.
Nietzsche, F. (n.d.). The Joyful Wisdom. The Joyful Wisdom, by Friedrich Nietzsche-A Project Gutenberg eBook. Retrieved November 30, 2021, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/52881/52881-h/52881-h.htm.
Nietzsche, F. (n.d.). The Will to Power. The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Will to Power, by Friedrich Nietzsche. Retrieved November 30, 2021, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/52915/52915-h/52915-h.htm#Page_214.
PHILOSOPHY - Nietzsche. (2014, October 10). Retrieved November 30, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHWbZmg2hzU.
Tim, "Nietzsche: The Will to power, April 25, 2012, " in Philosophy & Philosophers, April 25, 2012, https://www.the-philosophy.com/nietzsche-will-to-power.
Bertrand Russell
“Life is not to be conceived on the analogy of a melodrama in which the hero and the heroine go through incredible misfortunes for which they are compensated by a happy ending,” observes Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) in The Conquest of Happiness.
Russell was a British philosopher, logician, essayist, and social critic. He was one of the founders of modern analytic philosophy, an approach of scrutinizing language and analyzing the logic behind concepts most popular in Great Britain
Karen. (2007). Happily ever after. flickr. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/56832361@N00/429978804.
and the United States. In this article, we will dissect his approach to happiness in The Conquest of Happiness, a book first published in 1930, into advice organized into distinct sections.
I. Remain Curious
Photo by Artem Maltsev
Russell invites us to imagine a two-year-old child born and raised in London. When he was brought to the countryside in winter, the child shouts with jubilance, “everything was wet and muddy!” With excitement, the child “kneeled in the wet ground and put his face in the grass, and gave utterance to half-articulate cries of delight.” The same scene is tedious, if not annoying, to the adult eyes. We can hardly imagine ourselves laying on the muddy ground, getting our clothes dirty. However, this joy the child has “was primitive, simple, and massive” because the child remains curious about his surroundings and knows to appreciate the little details.
II. Widen Your Interests
Connected to the story about the child, Russell believes “the secret to happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible.” These interests are unrelated to our occupation and our work. Instead, they can be “anything that is not of practical importance to one’s own life.” A friend of mine once shared an analogy. Say your favorite color in the world is blue because of how much you love the freedom in the sky and paint your entire world blue. This world you created would not be nearly as beautiful and
Media from Wix
the blue would not be nearly as refreshing to your eyes because of the lack of variety. Therefore, engage in things we are not forced to engage in because they introduce colors in our world. For me, it can be not philosophizing in the shower and, instead, thinking about personal style and building my unique wardrobe. Because hobbies like fashion do not call for any action, pursuing these interests frees us from anxiety from skills and areas relating to work.
III. Withdraw from Toxic Competitions
Russell sharply observes that “the struggle for life is really the struggle for success.” Moreover, “what people fear when they engage in the struggle is not that they will fail to get their breakfast next morning, but that they will fail to outshine their neighbors.” We are engaged in a number of competitions, some explicit and some implicit. One of the most topical implicit competitions for high schoolers is regarding college admissions. Nevertheless, this sort of implicit competition with our peers is a source of unhappiness because we “become incapable of enjoying the more intellectual pleasures” as we are fixated on grades and other standards of comparison. The cure Russell prescribes to this unhappiness “lies in admitting the part of sane and quiet enjoyment in a balanced ideal of life.” Therefore, free our work and leisure from the poison of competition.
Photo by Elvis Bueno
III. Avoid Envy—"Probably One of the Most Potent Causes of Happiness"
Envy is in nature a result of self-comparison with others. Our instinct of comparing ourselves to people who are in some ways better off than us would almost always guarantee a result that disappoints us. For instance, an envious person can acknowledge that “it is springtime, and the birds are singing, and the flowers are in bloom.” Nevertheless, the person would not become ecstatic like the two-year-old child. Instead, the person is in dismay with
the understanding “that the springtime in Sicily is a thousand times more beautiful, that the birds sing more exquisitely in the groves of Helicon, and that the rose of Sharon is more lovely than any in [their] garden.” As a result, it seems to the person that “the sun is dimmed, and the birds’ song becomes meaningless twitter, and the flowers seem not worth a moment’s regard.” There will always be situations better than the one you are in right now. However, do not allow envy to obstruct your appreciation for anything, for it is a losing fight. As Russell reminds us “after all, what is more enviable than happiness?”
IV. Stop Worrying
At its core, “worry is a form of fear, and all forms of fear produce fatigue.” The fatigue from worrying is coined “nervous fatigue” by Russell and is “most pronounced among the well-to-do.” As Russell argues, business people and brain-workers are endowed with more leisure time than wage-earners. Nevertheless, our minds often wander off to the land of worries, about things that can almost always be solved as future occasions arise. Therefore, learn to not fear. In doing so, we will find “the fatigue of daily life enormously diminished.”
V. Endure Malicious Gossip
We all gossip in some form at some point in our lives. Therefore, we should realize that just as we gossip about others, so others gossip about us. Nevertheless, “when [we] hear that anything has been said against [ourselves], [we] are filled with indignant amazement” still. Moreover, we imprison ourselves in what Russell refers to as the “persecution mania,” the sense that everyone is secretly working against us. To stop persecution mania from permeating, we should not expect others to think we are flawless, that everyone must feel “tender love” and
Photo by Markus Winkler
“profound respect” towards us. Try to be objective when assessing ourselves: “if you find that others do not rate your abilities as highly as you do yourself, do not be too sure that it is they who are mistaken.” Instead of taking this realization with defeat, however, embrace it as an honest critique. Through this critique, we can work to improve ourselves to become the person we see ourselves as.
VI. Do Not Fear Public Opinion
This public opinion is widely defined, ranging from feedback from others to op-ed regarding our actions. Similar to gossip, we often fear negative public opinion. Russell argues that young people are especially liable to suffer from the tyranny of ignorance of others’ opinions. When we are young, our “merits are still untested.” Therefore, we often base our self-esteem “at the mercy of ignorant people who consider themselves capable of judging in matters about which they know nothing, and who are outraged that the suggestion that so young a person may know better than they do with all their experience of the world.” We are all experts in something despite having different experiences from older people. Therefore, take pride in ourselves and continue the path your heart pulls you toward. Hear and work through public opinion, but never fear it.
Ref:
Bertrand Russell: The conquest of happiness, 1930 (full text). Bertrand Russell The Conquest of Happiness - full text. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2021, from https://russell-j.com/beginner/COH-TEXT.HTM.
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Irvine, A. D. (2020, May 27). Bertrand Russell. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved November 30, 2021, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/russell/.
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Stroll, A. (n.d.). Analytic philosophy. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 30, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/analytic-philosophy.
Susan Wolf
Before you start living a good life, find your purpose. Contemporary American philosopher Susan Wolf believes “meaningfulness is a nonderivative aspect of a good life.” Hence, to live a happy life is to live a life of meaning.
Contrary to hedonism, Wolf sees a pleasurable life without purpose as a discontented one. Say you love chocolate and it’s pleasurable to consume it. However, plainly eating “chocolate is filling but not fulfilling.” That is to say, chocolate-eating itself is devoid of a higher purpose. As a result, the pleasantness chocolate-eating brings you is effervescent and would not make your life ultimately a happy one.
So what does Wolf refer to by “meaning” and how can you find yours? She argues meaning arises when “subjective attraction meets objective attractiveness.” In other words, meaning is found in any activities that are significant beyond the work itself and are something you know would bring you pleasure. For instance, you are subjectively attracted to chocolate. Then, take your devotion a step further and brainstorm ways you can serve the communities while interacting with this passion. Perhaps you can partner up with Fair Trade Certified, the organization that seeks to uplift farmers and workers by helping them sell their products at higher prices. Your work of advocating for chocolate producers’ financial interest would also allow you to interact with creative flavors of chocolate and genuine people behind the making of these delicacies—a win-win!
Once you’ve located your purpose, Wolf encourages you to actively engage with it. You can tell you are actively engaged by something if you are “gripped, excited, involved by it.” Think back on things you’ve been spending the most time and energy on. The important question to reflect on is not whether the work has always been pleasant. Rather, it is whether you have been constantly grabbed by your work. If your answer is yes, you’ve found your meaning and are on your way to a happy life. On the other hand, if your work has been one of boredom and alienation, consider changing the content of your work and/or how you engage in it.
Fairtrade International. (2002). Fm Rbg. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FM_RGB.jpg.
Scupham, B. (2009). Sisyphus. flickr. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/bethscupham/7328405210.
As Wolf puts it, “better to be Sisyphus happy (or, more precisely, Sisyphus fulfilled) than Sisyphus unhappy (unfulfilled)... but better still not be Sisyphus at all.” As you engage with tasks in your life, always keep purpose in your vision.
Note:
This article is based on Susan Wolf’s writing in “Happiness and Meaning: Two Aspects of the Good Life.” If you would like to read more, click here.
