LESSON 1: What is Happiness?

--- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

This is the opening quote for our topic today. This is the one million dollar question that should be answered: WHAT IS HAPPINESS? Or should I rephrase that; WHAT IS REAL HAPPINESS? We sometimes thought that we only become happy when we get the things that we desire. Yes, a part of it contributes to our happiness, but it is more than that. Happiness is not measured by the things we see or feel. It comes from within.

I want to share this conversation I have with my sister. One time, we were just talking about random things and then we came to this topic about happiness. I ask my sister if she was happy about her relationship, even though there were times that things don't work out fine. and she said yes. Then my mom suddenly said, in our native language, "Kahit ano pang mangyari o gawin nyo, basta gusto nyo, magiging masaya kayo." (Whatever happens, or whatever you end up doing, as long as you want and you have passion about, you'll be happy.)

And so I thought, my mom has a point. It has to be that way. Happiness is acquired from the things we are not only love about, but also we put passion into.

We interpret happiness according to how we think it is for us. For some, happiness is something they feel when they were given material things. Some see happiness from their achievements and such. We all have our own definition of it.

Sociologists put happiness as, "the degree to which a person evaluates the overall quality of his present life, as a whole, positively." Meaning, people measure happiness as how their life is turning out for them. As like what I said, a person's perception about happiness changes with how they see it working for them. Most people would define happiness just a fleeting impression that varies with the circumstances that may affect it.

Here are some definitions of happiness:

For the philosopher Robert Mishari, "Happiness is the radiation of joy over one's entire existence or over the most vibrant part of one's active past, one's actual present, and one's conceivable future."

For Andre Compte-Sponville, "By 'happiness,' we mean any span of time in which joy would seem immediately possible."

For St. Augustine, "Happiness is a rejoicing in the truth."

For Immanuel Kant, "Happiness must be rational and devoid of any personal taint."

For Karl Marx, "It is about growth through work."

And lastly, for Aristotle, "What constitutes happiness is a matter of dispute, and the popular account of it is not the same as that given by the philosophers."

Happiness can't be just limited to the changing feelings we have. Happiness should be a deep feeling towards things. It should be a feeling that comes from a healthy mind. Happiness should be based on how positive we look on things.

Our search for happiness is not about blinding ourselves with the imperfections of the world, nor the feeling of exaltation. Happiness is about taking away the negativity that poisons our minds. It is learning to see things in perspective.

Happiness also means learning to differentiate things from reality and just mere appearances. By learning this, one must understood the difference between them. Reality is defined as the true nature of things, regardless of how our mental abilities construct them. By the power of knowledge, we will be able to understand the true nature of things. On the other hand, Appearances is a collective of our thoughts we have about a certain thing.

Everything is interrelated. Just like a famous quote says, "No man is an island ." No thing can exist by itself. Internalizing this will lead to full understanding the true meaning of things. this is what they call Insight.

As long as you understood the concepts mentioned, then you are on your way to finding true happiness.

"No man is happy who does not think himself too."

--Marcus Aurelius