Regarding Happiness

It's late. I'm lying in my bed, thinking about life, philosophy. What concerns me, what concerns others. And as you can tell from the title, I came to asking "What is happiness?" A lofty question, sure, but I realized I'd never asked it to myself. So, naturally, I thought more.

As I type this, listening to "Hallelujah" by the Canadian Tenors, I can't help but just feel happy. I'm lying in a comfortable bed, night wrapped around me along with all the tranquility that comes with it, talking about things that I'm interested in. Anyone who's met me knows I get great joy from that last item, and I think anyone can relate to the security and contentment given by the others. I'm not worrying about any of life's issues. I'm completely happy with all that's around me right now.

I can't really acquire more happiness. There's no "thing" that I can get that will make my happiness "happier". No accomplishment that I have achieved or will achieve that will enhance my contentment. Happiness is an absolute. A wonderful absolute.

Accomplishment and satisfaction do make people happy. Competitors drive to win competitions for the happiness they get  from the victory, and for the happiness they get along the path to victory. Scientists discover because discovery fuels satisfaction, fuels the sense of innocent wonder that we all have. I like to think of scientists and engineers like children. When they find something, discover something, design something, they can become almost giddy with joy, overwhelmed with happiness brought on from doing something no one has ever done, seeing something no one has ever seen. Humans love novelty, and it's a recognition of novelty in the most absolute way.

But at what cost to we value achievement? At what cost do we value competition and satisfaction? How many of us if given the choice between happiness and notoriety would choose the latter over the former? Careers are what we think tends to define us, what we think we'll be remembered for. And to some extent, this is correct. Our history books have the names of the notorious and of the accomplished. But what real value does this possess? Why do we insist that the manager of the first cotton mills or the inventor of the revolver holds more value than the man who isolated himself in the wilderness for years by sheer virtue of understanding what he wanted? Why do we all know Presidents, inventors, and war heroes, but tend to forget humanitarians and philosophers? Why do we tell ourselves that success is measured in terms of an arbitrary sum of sheets of currency, or in a title attached to our names? Our careers will not be remembered; our ideas and our actions will. What actions, what values, what ideas do we truly want to impart to the new generations? Secularism, consumerism, individualism, and competition? Or love, companionship, loyalty, honesty, kindness, and happiness?

Moving beyond careers, we have hobbies. Hobbies that we love. Hobbies that we get happiness from. Boil down any hobby to that point, and a common response can be found. I had a personal revelation a few weeks ago, wondering "Why do I watch MLP?" Why do I delve into a subject that has absolutely no relevancy to anything I might want to achieve? Subsequently, I'd asked myself why I like playing hockey when all it tangibly does is to cause physical stress and to disrupt my schedule. I'd asked myself why I compose music when my songs seldom heard, why I consider philosophy when my views are seldom considered, why I write this blog when my words are seldom read. The ultimate response: because it makes me happy. In the same way, everyone's hobbies give themselves enjoyment, satisfaction, contentment, and harmony. How many of us could say the same of our careers? How many of us enjoy our careers as we do our hobbies? How many of us should enjoy our careers as we do our hobbies?

When asked what the meaning of life is, I'll respond "To be happy." Sometimes the conformity to social norms or the conformity to what society sees as success can bog this purpose down. Often we seem to find that our lives change for the better when we stop listening to others tell us what we like and what we want, and start listening to ourselves. I can only hope that those people I can communicate this to will listen, and that those people who haven't figured this out will someday understand.

Let me close with a quote: "A device exists which can relieve any pain, cure any sickness, purge any doubt, cleanse any regret, abolish any fear, surmount any obstacle, and enhance the lives of man in every way imaginable. It is easily distributed, easily used, and requires no training. This device is the smile."