Happiness: An Illusion Essay, Research Paper
Happiness: An Illusion
Happiness: An Illusion? Perhaps the most elusive state that humans experience
is the illusion of happiness. This state can not be defined as any one state.
Through experience I have seen that happiness is a combination of human
emotions and states of mind. Exploring this state of being has consumed the
philosophical minds of the ages and will continue to do so for ages to come.
What is happiness? In an unofficial poll of students at the University of West
Florida, I found that of the thirty-eight students and one professor, males and
females of several ethnic backgrounds and age groups, that I asked the
question ?What is happiness to you??, all of them had very different physical,
intellectual, or emotional motivator for their happiness. Only the professor
stated what happiness was to him. The students, ranging in age from 20 years
to 45 years, all spoke of material things that would make them happy. They
couldn?t seem to grasp ?happiness? as a concept in itself. The questions that
are asked when exploring the concept of happiness should begin with desire to
know if it is a pleasure based in our basic and primitive emotions. Next, is
happiness motivated by pure desire? Does a mental state of contentment
produce happiness? Does happiness come from a simple, physical feeling?
Maybe happiness is a combination of all of these. According to John Mill, The
creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest
Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to
promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.
By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness,
pain, and the privation of pleasure. To give a clear view of the moral standard
set up by the theory, much more requires to be said; in particular, what things it
in- cludes in the ideas of pain and pleasure; and to what extent this is left an
open question. But these supplementary explanations do not affect the theory
of life on which this theory of morality is grounded namely, that pleasure, and
freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends; and that all desirable
things (which are as numerous in the utilitarian as in any other scheme) are
desirable either for the pleasure inherent in themselves, or as means to the
promotion of pleasure and the prevention of pain. (Pojman 917) Mill seems to
think that happiness comes from the desire to be completely pain-free. He says
that happiness comes from selfishly fulfilled desires. The desire to attain only
pleasure is ludicrous; for a person to achieve a completely pain-free existence
is impossible. To gain complete happiness would leave them with no motivation
to achieve anything else. Human nature is such that if a person achieved pure
happiness, that person would then become dissatisfied with that happiness,
causing them to, once again, be unhappy. A person will always experience
something contrary to pleasure, leaving them with some type of pain. In my
opinion, people seem to be happy for many different reasons at different times
in their lives. I feel that for most people, happiness is a contented state of mind.
Of course, this state of mind is sometimes associated with pleasures of the
senses. Therefore, happiness can be achieved in many ways. Today, people
seem to be interested in the pleasures of the flesh as a means to happiness.
This may be due to the anesthetized feelings that we have developed from the
staggering amount of information pushed upon us every day. This lack of
sensation causes a need that when filled is often mistaken for happiness. As a
general rule, I feel, people are extremely complex creatures. Their ability for
abstract thought seperates them from any other creature on earth, but it also
makes them unique unto themselves. What makes one person happy may or
may not make another person happy. Happiness, in and of itself, in my opinion,
in unattainable. To be content with a minimum of worries is as close to absolute
happiness as a person can come. For myself, I believe that true happiness is an
illusion. I believe in the desire-driven theory of happiness. When I find the need
for the illusion of happiness, I attempt to achieve it by fulfilling my temporary
needs through the gratification of my immediate desires. I find that contentment
and the drive to continue to achieve my desires is much more important than
the illusion of happiness. Sunday, January 23, 2000
Pojman, Louis P. Classics of Philosophy: Volume II Modern and
Contemporary. New York: Oxford UP, 1998.