What is happiness?

[The Sum of Awe]

Everyone wants to be happy. I've heard it said that the goal of philosophy is happiness. But here's the question: what does it mean to be happy?

Happiness isn't the goal for all philosophy; for example analytical philosophy's goal seems more to do with logic and understanding, structuralism has to do with the structure of a culture or society a major system, etc.

I'd say happiness is the goal for specifically moral philosophy and existential philosophy, however not all moral philosophers or existentialists look to finding happiness so it isn't even a common goal there.

Happiness, though, is an emotion of pleasure or enjoyment. It is a zero-sum game; not everyone can be satisfied at once. There are people that want others dead and there are people that want no murderers. There are people that want to rule the world and there are people that want complete freedom. There are people that seek passivity but people who want to cause mayhem. There are people who are entirely against religion and there are people that find religion an essential part of life. There are people that want to expose government truths and people that feel ignorance is bliss. There are people that want all countries under one power and there are people that hate other countries (some even hate their own, due to a narcissistic feeling of being better than everyone else around them).

 

[ratikala]

namaskaram :namaste

to me , true happiness is equanimity , freedom from the extremes of elation and depresion , the ballance in between .

yes also many have said it is contentment 'Santosha' but true contentment comes from having fewness of wishes .

... but best of all happiness comes from giving without attatchment :namaste

 

[Penumbra]

Everyone wants to be happy. I've heard it said that the goal of philosophy is happiness. But here's the question: what does it mean to be happy?

The word is generally used to refer to a number of things.

-There's eudaimonia, also known as objective happiness, well-being, or flourishing. It was considered the core goal of a number of schools of Greek philosophy. It can be considered a combination of happiness and virtue.

-There's subjective well-being, which is one's most immediate sense of happiness. It's basically positive affect minus negative effect. This is evidenced to be rather hereditary, and comes in large part from brain chemicals and life experiences.

-Then there's life satisfaction, where a person says how satisfied they are with their life. For example, maybe a person has had lifelong misery, but they have children they love, or they did something really important in their view. They might not regret their life even if they were sad during most of it, and therefore might give it a moderate rating in life satisfaction. So, wording can be very important, because things like life satisfaction and subjective well-being, won't always give similar results.

 

[dust1n]

Convenient conditions.

 

[roger1440]

Everyone wants to be happy. I've heard it said that the goal of philosophy is happiness. But here's the question: what does it mean to be happy?

"It is impossible for any created good to constitute man’s happiness. For happiness is that perfect good which entirely satisfies one’s desire; otherwise it would not be the ultimate end, if something yet remained to be desired. Now the object of the will, i.e., of man’s desire, is what is universally good; just as the object of the intellect is what is universally true. Hence it is evident that nothing can satisfy man’s will, except what is universally good. This is to be found, not in any creature, but in God alone, because every creature has only participated goodness. Therefore, God alone can satisfy the will of man, according to the words of the Psalms (102:5): “Who alone satisfies your desire with good things.” Therefore, God alone constitutes man’s happiness.” (Summa Theologica Part 2. Q.1. Article 8)
Aquinas and Happiness

 

[Falvlun]

Happiness is a warm gun.

Well, someone had to say it.

 

[roger1440]

Everyone wants to be happy. I've heard it said that the goal of philosophy is happiness. But here's the question: what does it mean to be happy?

[FONT=&quot]Here is a piece of music from one of my favorite composers. It’s from Handel’s Messiah[/FONT]

[youtube]4QX0u1Vlrbk[/youtube]
happy we... Handel. - YouTube

 

[Thief]

Happiness is a chemical reaction that happens at the bottom of your brain.
It's true.

Without the chemistry in proper proportions your sense of well being is entirely a matter of logic.....and even then.....

Take away the flesh and the chemistry.....

So, maybe true happiness cannot be felt here in this living.
Maybe we have to wait for it....just a little bit longer.

 

[Vouthon]

"...Man’s ultimate happiness consists in the contemplation of truth, for this operation is specific to man and is shared with no other animals. Also it is not directed to any other end since the contemplation of truth is sought for its own sake. In addition, in this operation man is united to higher beings (substances) since this is the only human operation that is carried out both by God and by the separate substances (angels)..."

- St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Contra Gentiles, book 3, chapter 37)

The Catechism:

ARTICLE 2
OUR VOCATION TO BEATITUDE

I. THE BEATITUDES

1716 The Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus' preaching. They take up the promises made to the chosen people since Abraham. The Beatitudes fulfill the promises by ordering them no longer merely to the possession of a territory, but to the Kingdom of heaven:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward is great in heaven.12

1717 The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ's disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.


II. THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS

1718 The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness. This desire is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it:


We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated.13
How is it, then, that I seek you, Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you.14

God alone satisfies.15

1719 The Beatitudes reveal the goal of human existence, the ultimate end of human acts: God calls us to his own beatitude. This vocation is addressed to each individual personally, but also to the Church as a whole, the new people made up of those who have accepted the promise and live from it in faith.

III. CHRISTIAN BEATITUDE

1720 The New Testament uses several expressions to characterize the beatitude to which God calls man:

- the coming of the Kingdom of God;16 - the vision of God: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"17

- entering into the joy of the Lord;18

- entering into God's rest:19


There we shall rest and see, we shall see and love, we shall love and praise. Behold what will be at the end without end. For what other end do we have, if not to reach the kingdom which has no end?20
1721 God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him, and so to come to paradise. Beatitude makes us "partakers of the divine nature" and of eternal life.21 With beatitude, man enters into the glory of Christ22 and into the joy of the Trinitarian life.

1722 Such beatitude surpasses the understanding and powers of man. It comes from an entirely free gift of God: whence it is called supernatural, as is the grace that disposes man to enter into the divine joy.


"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." It is true, because of the greatness and inexpressible glory of God, that "man shall not see me and live," for the Father cannot be grasped. But because of God's love and goodness toward us, and because he can do all things, he goes so far as to grant those who love him the privilege of seeing him. . . . For "what is impossible for men is possible for God."23
1723 The beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement - however beneficial it may be - such as science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love:


All bow down before wealth. Wealth is that to which the multitude of men pay an instinctive homage. They measure happiness by wealth; and by wealth they measure respectability. . . . It is a homage resulting from a profound faith . . . that with wealth he may do all things. Wealth is one idol of the day and notoriety is a second. . . . Notoriety, or the making of a noise in the world - it may be called "newspaper fame" - has come to be considered a great good in itself, and a ground of veneration.24

1724 The Decalogue, the Sermon on the Mount, and the apostolic catechesis describe for us the paths that lead to the Kingdom of heaven. Sustained by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we tread them, step by step, by everyday acts. By the working of the Word of Christ, we slowly bear fruit in the Church to the glory of God.25

Catechism of the Catholic Church - Our vocation to beatitude

 

[Vouthon]

In the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it states:

359. How do we attain beatitude?

We attain beatitude by virtue of the grace of Christ which makes us participants in the divine life. Christ in the Gospel points out to his followers the way that leads to eternal happiness: the beatitudes. The grace of Christ also is operative in every person who, following a correct conscience, seeks and loves the true and the good and avoids evil.

360. Why are the beatitudes important for us?

The beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus’ preaching and they take up and fulfill the promises that God made starting with Abraham. They depict the very countenance of Jesus and they characterize authentic Christian life. They reveal the ultimate goal of human activity, which is eternal happiness.

361. What is the relationship between the beatitudes and our desire for happiness?

The beatitudes respond to the innate desire for happiness that God has placed in the human heart in order to draw us to himself. God alone can satisfy this desire.

362. What is eternal happiness?

It is the vision of God in eternal life in which we are fully “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), of the glory of Christ and of the joy of the trinitarian life. This happiness surpasses human capabilities. It is a supernatural and gratuitous gift of God just as is the grace which leads to it. This promised happiness confronts us with decisive moral choices concerning earthly goods and urges us to love God above all things.

http://www.catecheticsonline.com/Compendium-3-1.php

Firstly let me explain "beatitude", it means "supreme bliss" or "happiness"; the state we enjoy in Heaven, something that mystics can have a foretaste of in this life through union with God. This comes around through infused contemplative prayer.

The "supreme bliss" of heaven, our beatitude, or the foretaste of it that we experience in this life, consists of deification. We become by grace what God is by Nature.

This is one of the most important patristic teachings. It was taught equally in the West as it was in the East. This doctrine is fundamental to the teaching of the Church Fathers, who held that "God became man, so that man might become God" [St. Augustine, Sermo 13 de Tempore].

The entire purpose of the divine economy whereby the Son of God became incarnate was for the deification of man. It means that God allows His human creatures to participate in and share in His own Divine Life. He gives us Himself to enjoy forever in eternity.

As Blessed Pope John Paul II explained:

"....Jesus is the new man (see Eph 4:24; Col 3:10) who calls redeemed humanity to share in His divine life. The mystery of the Incarnation lays the foundations for an anthropology which, reaching beyond its own limitations and contradictions, moves towards God Himself, indeed towards the goal of divinization. This occurs through the grafting of the redeemed on to Christ and their admission into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life. The Fathers have laid great stress on this soteriological dimension of the mystery of the Incarnation: it is only because the Son of God truly became man that man, in him and through him, can truly become a son of God..."

- Blessed Pope John Paul II (Novo Millennio Ineunte, no. 23)

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

260 The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God's creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity.100 But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: "If a man loves me", says the Lord, "he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him":101

O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely so to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action.102

The above quotation "102" is cited as being from a prayer by Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, a great Catholic mystic who died in 1906. Her very name signifies participation in the life of the Most Blessed Trinity

 

[Virus]

happiness is a state of mind, most of the time its just all lies

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

Everyone wants to be happy. I've heard it said that the goal of philosophy is happiness. But here's the question: what does it mean to be happy?

Happiness is when your sense of self becomes seated within an inner zone of comfort, peace and security.

What ever that takes, will be different on an individual basis according to life's priorities and philosophy/belief.

That which makes us happy can just as easily make us un happy though, and I always try to remember that, as part of my teachings and training. The whole lesson and aim of this, is to recognise our own personal expectations - those we have of ourselves, and of others, to see if they are, in any way - justifiable.

Material happiness is also transitory, so I seek eternal happiness, so I must learn to hold no expectations there, so all this is just becomes a 'warm up exercise'.

A lot of people 'feel sorry for me' and say I need to find a 'good man' etc...yeah, that would be nice too!

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

happiness is a state of mind, most of the time its just all lies

Pretty much.

 

[Virus]

Pretty much.

but you know whats sad, many people would rather die than be unhappy lol

 

[Straw Dog]

Too much contentment leads to inertia and mental death. We need to have both positive and negative experiences for personal growth.

 

[YmirGF]

I've always believed that happiness is the natural state of the mind. For me, my continued experience of happiness has been a byproduct of decades of meditation and was a feature I experienced from the start. It is chiefly derived by being in harmony with reality, focusing on reality - as it is - instead of on my imaginary view of how reality ought to be. It takes some practice to make this a permanent state, but it's just learning how to stay in sync with reality.

The lasting happiness is an internal wellspring that radiates outwards into the world and is really quite relentless. One of my greatest pleasures is making people smile or make them laugh, to ease their burdens as it were. There ain't a lot of point of being an energizer bunny of mirth if you can't share it with those around you.

Edit: Almost forgot. Happiness with your experience is proportional to the effort exerted into your endeavors. I try to do my very best, regardless of what my given task is. This maximizes satisfaction and tends to eradicate disappointment and guilt. The bottom line is that if you approach the drudgery of life in a halfhearted way you are creating the seeds of your own disappointment. My last nugget is that to keep my edge, to make things count, I pretend every action is my last action on earth, as one day... that lowly little action will be...