She lowered her eyes for a little while
as though searching the innermost recesses of her mind, and then she continued:
“The trouble of the many and various aims of mortal men bring them much care,
and herein they go forward by different paths but strive to reach one end,
which is happiness.
“And that good is that, to which if any
man attain, he can desire nothing further. It is that highest of all good
things, and it embraces in itself all good things. If any good is lacking, it
cannot be the highest good, since then there is left outside it something which
can be desired.
“Wherefore happiness is a state that is
made perfect by the union of all good things. This end all men seek to reach,
as I said, though by different paths. For there is implanted by nature in the
minds of men a desire for the true good, but error leads them astray towards
false goods by wrong paths.
“Some men believe that the highest good
is to lack nothing, and so they are at pains to possess abundant riches.
“Others consider the true good to be
that which is most worthy of admiration, and so they strive to attain to places
of honor, and to be held by their fellow-citizens in honor thereby.
“Some determine that the highest good
lies in the highest power, and so they either desire to reign themselves, or
try to cleave to those who do reign.
“Others think that renown is the
greatest good, and they therefore hasten to make a famous name by the arts of
peace or of war.
“But more than all measure the fruit of
good by pleasure and enjoyment, and these think that the happiest man is
abandoned to pleasure.”. . .
—from
Book 3, Prose 2
It might
seem strange if people needed something, while being completely unaware that
they needed it, but it might seem even stranger if people knew there was
something they needed, and even had a name for it, but still couldn’t recognize
it.
It would
be much like not knowing I require a cure, because I am ignorant of the fact
that I am sick, as distinct from knowing I should take a remedy for what ails
me, and knowing what the necessary medicine is called, but being ignorant of
which color pill is the right one.
It isn’t
so strange after all, however, because I suggest we do precisely this, day in
and day out, when it comes to being happy. Surely none of us are ignorant that
we want to be happy, that we needs to be happy, that it is in fact the most
important thing in life to work for. Yet at the same time, many of us have
absolutely no idea what happiness actually is, and what we need in order to get
it.
Over
years of trying to teach philosophy, I would always suggest to people that the
pursuit was hardly pointless or impractical, but rather the most critical and
necessary discipline that each and every person needed to master. I was, of
course, looked at as if I was insane, because it was assumed I meant reading
stuffy books. Rather, I meant that it was only by sound reasoning that we can
ever understand how we should live, what will make our actions worthwhile, and
which paths can lead us to happiness.
Whatever
variations of the term we may use, we are all looking for the same thing. We
want to be content, complete, fulfilled, and deprived of nothing that we need.
We want a life that is good and not bad, full of right things instead of wrong
things, and we would like this in the best possible way. We understand that
happiness is not living with mediocrity, but with excellence. If it isn’t the best,
there would still be something more to desire.
We even
have that ubiquitous yellow smiley face to represent all of it, a symbol that I
sometimes find more disturbing than comforting. What makes me a bit
uncomfortable is that we aren’t even sure exactly what it means. “Well, you
know, being happy! Everyone knows what that is!” That look I get when people
think I am insane turns to a look of resentment when I ask for specifics.
Engineers
calculate tolerances to the slightest degree, doctors map all the details of
the human body, and businessmen consider every nuanced factor in the market,
but when it comes to happiness, the most important aspect of all, we are at a
loss for words. We think platitudes or vague sentiments will suffice.
Now the
depth of human living is far more profound than the laws of physics, biology,
or economics, but that should be a reason to be more careful instead of less
careful.
Sometimes
we embrace what we think is the easiest answer, or the one we are simply most
familiar with from those around us. So we might say that money is happiness, or
respect, or power, or great achievements. Many of us will say that pleasure is
happiness, because we assume that feeling good must be the highest good.
And in
each of these cases, Lady Philosophy will explain, our ignorance has led us
down the wrong path. We see a bit of the good here, a piece of it over there,
and we forget to look for the whole good, the one that includes them all, and
rises above them all. We confuse what is imperfect and incomplete with what is
perfect and complete.
Written in 9/2015
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