Thoughts on Happiness

More than two thousand years ago, the ancients believed that the greatest gifts a person could enjoy were not material goods, but the "spiritual" possessions of character such as virtue, happiness etc., for material things can be snatched from us or be quickly destroyed in an unfortunate occasion, but what is of the spirit presents a far greater resilience in face of adversity, especially among the disciplined and strong-willed. To proclaim such a maxim today might sound cliché, but isn't this the very reason why it remains true even after so many centuries? If this weren't true, people would have forgotten about it and this knowledge wouldn't have been transmitted down the generations, much less become a commonplace item of discourse.

The ancient philosophers believed it took little to achieve happiness. Riches were dispensable, glories were superfluous; all that was necessary was a healthy body and a healthy mind, and even if the body were unhealthy, the mind could more than make up for its suffering. Epicurus, who was known for his frail health, used to be able to withstand physical pain by reliving pleasant memories of conversations he had had with his friends. The power of the memory here is but an instance of the general power of the mind that is instituted over the tyranny of the body, illustrating what a well-trained constitution is capable of.

The powers of the mind can also be illustrated in other ways, as Lucretius suggests in book 2 of his On the Nature of Things:

"Sweet it is, when on the great sea the winds are buffeting the waters, to gaze from the land on another's great struggles; not because it is pleasure or joy that anyone should be distressed, but because it is sweet to perceive from what misfortune you yourself are free. Sweet is it too, to behold great contests of war in full array over the plains, when you have no part in the danger. But nothing is more gladdening than to dwell in the calm high places, firmly embattled on the heights by the teaching of the wise, whence you can look down on others, and see them wandering hither and thither, going astray as they leek the way of life, in strife matching their wits or rival claims of birth, struggling night and day by surpassing effort to rise up to the height of power and gain possession of the world. Ah! miserable minds of men, blind hearts! in what darkness of life, in what great dangers ye spend this little span of years! to think that ye should not see that nature cries aloud for nothing else but that pain may be kept far sundered from the body, and that, withdrawn from care and fear, she may enjoy in mind the sense of pleasure! And so we see that for the body's nature but few things at all are needful, even such as can take away body pain".

Fastforward to the present. Our age has (apparently) allowed for a greater satisfaction of bodily needs than any other. Today, less people suffer from starvation and other forms of deprivation than at any other time in history. What's more, with the ease of access to art, to friendship, to social action etc., above all because of the internet, spiritual well-being and satisfaction should be now more achievable than ever. Why, then, are we so unhappy? I prefer not to have the audacity to pretend that I have a definitive answer to this question, however it seems clear to anyone who can truly think that the reason lies in the fact that we live in a society mired in a deep crisis. Now, happiness might still be something that can be achieved due to personal efforts more than anything else, but it increasingly presents itself as a socially-determined thing, one that is expected to continue to elude many people.