Various On Happiness

In a 2011 essay in e Atlantic, author and journalist Lori Gottlieb writes: “Nowadays, it’s not enough to be happy—if you can be even happier. e American Dream and the pursuit of happiness have morphed from a quest for general contentment to the idea that you must be happy at all times and in every way. Write an essay that argues your position on the claim that pursuing happiness as a goal has detrimental e ects.

Luke Weber

Since ancient times, people have wondered if there is some empirical way to consistently nd those uplifting and carefree emotions we call happiness. In the modern era, with our ability to track nearly every factor of physical and mental health in our own lives, one might think that we could achieve such a method, or at least that individuals might have the resources to craft one for themselves. Unfortunately, happiness can be much more complex than a simple chemical, which makes pursuing it as an individual goal in today’s world a massive challenge that is more likely to frustrate someone than improve their lives.

Just because we haven’t found a way to reliably achieve happiness doesn’t mean we don’t know anything about it. e Ancient Greeks, in particular, were fascinated by it and described it in great detail. Aristotle, for example, di erentiated happiness into two parts: a spiritual, holistic satisfaction (eudaimonia), and the more physical, primal pleasures like eating and sex (hedona). While other philosophers have had di erent ideas, what is clear is that most agree that happiness is a composite, a blend of factors that create happiness. Like a complex tapestry, happiness is a fragile thing that isn’t very reliable. As depicted in

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the Pixar lm “Inside Out”, memories and activities that once made someone happy could no longer have that e ect because of a traumatic event, or even the passage of time. Happiness is less of a feeling and more of a type of lifestyle that combines di erent states of mind and lifestyle choices, a complexity that could make it di cult to achieve as a goal.

A goal as complex as happiness is nearly impossible to achieve on a daily basis for a number of reasons. e issue lies in the human ability to truly focus on more than one activity. Research has shown that the ability to “multi-task” is largely a myth, as people can’t really think deeply about more than one problem at a time. So, on a day-to-basis, creating happiness out of thin air is fruitless for most people. If someone tries to acquire happiness hard-on, they will likely be unable to understand the true scope of their emotions in the moment, and become frustrated with their inability to feel good. Happiness can’t be thought of as a singular thing, so treating it as a goal that a single-minded person can just wake up and achieve sets impossibly high requirements for that person to focus on in a day. e obvious solution, it seems, is to plan for happiness on a larger scale, to make happiness more of a life goal instead of a daily one. If a person can’t manage their happiness in the moment, then surely planning and taking a step back should x the issue. However, a massive barrier stands between people and idealizing happiness that way in the modern era: consumerism. Products that promise to help consumers to “be happy” or to “live happy” are extremely common. ose who make happiness their goal instead of a balanced lifestyle will inevitably fall prey to that marketing, even if they understand that happiness is complex. ose who are determined to nd the “zen” in their lives will more likely than not get pulled into a loop of trying the latest and greatest product or service, inevitably failing in their overall goal because of the inability to shake

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Part V: Miscellany

the in uence of entities whose only goal is to make a quick buck. In the modern era, corporations command enough power to confound those who are foolish enough to idealize their life goal into a single word.

Dylan Ivanchikova-Crouse

Pursuing happiness as a goal can be opportune in that it is liberating for anyone who wants to reorient themselves, too often people are caught up in goals that won’t satisfy or ful ll them and this can lead to a dismal state of mind. In e Atlantic in 2011 Lori Gottlieb wrote about how the quest for happiness, speci cally in the American Dream, has led people to believe that they need to be happy all the time. Lori Gottlieb’s argument about happiness being a detrimental goal fails to consider the alternative that is not having happiness in your line of sight, and in doing so writes happiness o as harmful and self destructive.

In modern American society students are urged to choose a job or goal that they love and will make them happy; if money makes them happy they should consider being a doctor or lawyer, if it’s talking to people then a social worker, or if it’s something relating to saving the earth then a position that supports environmental conservation. Happiness is a consequence of other aspects of life and cannot be achieved by merely existing, and when students are compelled to pursue happiness and satisfaction in their careers they become much less likely to veer o from their paths or even be motivated to perform better and contribute more to society. Happiness is not a state of euphoria but a comfortable sensation, no person needs to seek happiness by delving into temporary thrills and putting o di cult tasks, that is not happiness because it is not sustainable. Happiness is not a goal with detrimental consequences but a feeling that

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operates in the background of overarching goals, a feeling that comes from feeling meaningful and being ful lled.

I’ve found that in my personal experience, when I reorient myself towards my own needs and my own happiness, the results of whatever situation I’m in are often more desirable, well thought out, and better overall. ere have been multiple situations where I have felt panicked to meet the needs of another person and have not been able to make a decision for fear of dissatisfying them, but when I shift my thinking to what would make myself happy I am able to make much better decisions and actually put ideas on the table and take myself into account. Of course this is an example on a much smaller scale, but it can be applied to broader scenarios, like when choosing a path for the future you’d want to choose what brings the most happiness and good to the world. Happiness as a goal isn’t a bad thing, in fact the bene ts to having a shift in logic to gear yourself towards happiness can be enlightening and freeing when you’d otherwise be seeking an outcome that you couldn’t care less for.

I can understand the stance Gottlieb takes, coming from the opinion that happiness is already a consequence of completing other goals and responsibilities, so to make it a goal in and of itself would mean a shift in other values to accommodate a constant happiness. is warrants the worry that for people who hold sel sh values, if they were to set happiness as their goal, then their previous goals would evaporate to favor a more sel sh outcome. However, a sel sh person doesn’t need to set happiness as their goal to make sel sh goals that result in happiness for themselves and dissatisfaction in others. In e Great Gatsby, Gatsby is crawling, unabashed, for the sel sh desire to marry Daisy and have her to himself when she is married and with a daughter, he is so caught up in his goal of marrying Daisy that he ruins himself. Now you might be thinking that this is a piece of evidence that supports the argument that happiness is a goal that leads to ruin because Daisy is gatsby’s happiness,

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Part V: Miscellany

however I propose that because happiness is an outcome and a motivator it cannot be in and of itself a goal with consequences; Daisy is not actually his happiness. In short, because happiness is a consequence of goals in most cases, it becomes almost synonymous with the original goal because it is a motivator to accomplish that objective: happiness as a goal cannot be good or bad until the action it is motivating is taken into account.

When Lori Gottlieb argues that happiness can only bring disaster they argue incorrectly, it is not an argument you can make because of how happiness functions as a motivator and a byproduct to other goals; the actual outcome of a goal can only be determined after the fact and certainly not by writing of all goals of happiness as having negative consequences.

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