Preview

The Pursuit Of Happiness

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
985 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Pursuit Of Happiness
What’s the purpose of life? What's the meaning of life? Is purpose of life to pursuit happiness throughout one's life? Happiness in life is directly related to having a specific purpose and interaction with others. the pursuit of happiness is a part of the american dream, every American and future citizens of America from other countries dream of it.
The concept of happiness come from many places, starting in ancient times. A English philosopher named John Locke “coining the phrase pursuit of happiness in his book in Essay Concerning Human Understanding”. But he was influenced by Greek philosophers, the Aristotle. Later the famous quote everyone know from the Declaration of Independence, “the inalienable right to life liberty and the pursuit
…show more content…
Meaning if happiness is the way of your life then proceed with what you're doing to be in the state of happiness. “Happiness is enshrined as the central purpose of life and goal according to” (“Aristotle”). More or less the state of being happy purpose is to portray the intention of having a great life by pursuit happiness. The following quote from by Pierre Gassendi he writes;
“Happiness and Misery are the names of two extremes, the utmost bound where we know not…But of some degrees of both, we have very lively impressions, made by several instances of Delight and Joy on the one side and Torment and Sorrow on the other; which, for shortness sake, I shall comprehend under the names of Pleasure and Pain, there being pleasure and pain of the Mind as well as the Body…Happiness then in its full extent is the utmost Pleasure we are capable of, and Misery the utmost pain”. (1894,
…show more content…
Happiness in one’s life could come from anything, in the Aristotle text it say, “happiness depends on ourselves”. This is true because not everyone experience happiness in the same way as others. Some may receive it from goals, workplace, friends and family, etc. As stated by finding (“Happiness News; 20 Ways To Achieve Happiness In Life”), some basic things that help achieve happiness are “count your blessings, reconnecting with your childhood dreams, helping someone, spending more quality time with your loved ones, know yourself, and accept yourself”. First one count your blessing is to understand and appreciate what has been given to you. Knowing the blessing is happiness because the blessing is benefit you by th solving a problem that the lord has fix for you. Second reconnecting with your childhood is a result of happiness because things you may have lost site of from your childhood that brought pleasure could be regain to have that excitement once again. Most adults lose the things that excite them but everyone has that little child in them that still need those things that brought them happiness. Third helping someone can tied back to court your blessings by knowing the good you do for someone else's is a way to fulfill your blessing. Another reason is that knowing that you could help someone life be easier is a source of happiness. Fourth spending more quality time with loved

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Nt1310 Unit 1 Assignment

    • 1657 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Where does happiness begin? Happiness comes from us; perhaps, it is an inner product of our consciousness, and mind forms happiness. Besides, happiness may be the ideal of imagination, the dream that fills life with sense. Happiness can also arise from the light side of human nature - the best qualities and moral principles.…

    • 1657 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Instead, we will look to a second definition of happiness by Miriam-Webster presenting a definition that more reasonably proposes that happiness is one’s position on life rather than a transient feeling. Miriam-Webster states that happiness is “a state of well-being and contentment.” By introducing this idea of well-being to an explanation of the inspiration of happiness, Miriam-Webster’s definition suggests that different elements, such as health and comfort, are required to create happiness. Many people over the course of history have attempted to define happiness, and some definitions are quite interesting, however, who is to say that any of the definitions are correct or incorrect? To answer the original question asked, “What is happiness?” there is no definite way to define happiness, especially not a definition that will be valid for every person. Happiness is something that is achieved, and once achieved, that person knows that something is different. It is something strived towards in our society because there are so many people facing adversity that many are unable to find their happiness due to their worries. In his book, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley introduces a type of society quite different from our own in which happiness…

    • 1490 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What is happiness? Sometimes we do not clearly understand. Happiness is not far away but it exists all around us every day for hours. Why we always have to looking for it? According to ‘The Geography of Bliss’ by Eric Weiner, the writer has traveled around the world to look for the true meaning of happiness. There are many reasons that make us happy such as money, cars, houses...which are all kind of the materials. There are few people realize that the happiest period of time is the moment in which we live. Life, which contains many challenges, difficulties and adversities. How to best adapt to this life is to accept the reality and believe in yourself. By themselves, each of us, in any circumstance, to know the feel and find their own happiness.…

    • 206 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Everyone has different ideas about whether happiness is a state of being or a process. Arthur Schopenhauer claims that happiness is a state of mind that one must strive for, while Friedrich Nietzsche claims that happiness is the process of pursuing one’s desires. Martin Seligman’s concept of the three lives explains that happiness can be both a state of being and a process depending on which of the three lives one is experiencing. Both Schopenhauer’s and Nietzsche’s ideas on happiness relate to Seligman’s concepts of the three lives: the Pleasant Life, the Good Life, and the Meaningful Life. Martin Seligman is a renowned psychologist who studies in the field of positive psychology.…

    • 1530 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    We all want to be happy but how do we to find eternal happiness? Happiness has been the question to many that are unable to answer based on their own opinions. Aristotle states, “Happiness depends on ourselves” (Pursuit of Happiness). He makes many points as to what happiness is. He says that happiness is the ultimate end and purpose of human existence, it is the exercise of virtue, it is the perfection of human nature, it depends on our character, and it requires intellectual contemplation.…

    • 1957 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many occurrences in life where we come across happiness. In this paper, I will relate Greek philosopher Aristotle’s words in his book Nicomachean Ethics, to the idea of happiness and his contrast of happiness and pleasure. Happiness is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a state of well-being and contentment; a pleasurable or satisfying experience” (Merriam-Webster). However, there is much more to understand about the bigger picture and full idea of happiness. Happiness is our purpose as human beings and our highest goal. So why do we seek happiness in our daily world and try to avoid unjust pleasure at all costs?…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    There is no one definition of happiness, however philosophy and psychology have long been interested in this phenomenon as well as how to enhance it. Sometimes these two disciplines came up with propositions how to be happy. As an example Epicurus (342–270 BCE) begun hedonistic approach referring to maximization of pleasure (Seligman, 2002). Later on Aristotle said that “happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life…” where eudaimonic route to happiness is observed (Seligman, 2002). Nowadays, methexic approach was introduced, also known as meaningful life (Seligman, 2002), where one is stepping out from the box and focuses on another person. One of the goals of positive psychology is to understand happiness and enhance its level in individuals by using psychological interventions. Several studies presented in here indicate that happiness can and should be taught.…

    • 1326 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Happiness is not one thing; it means different things in different places, different societies, and different cultural contexts. There are multiple “pursuits of happiness”.…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pursuing Happiness

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Don Lucas tells you about what is happiness and how you distinguish the positive emotions of happiness, pleasure and contentment from one another. What I believe is the purest form of happiness is when we’re infants and as we grow into a bias exotelic we feel the need to be content. Not being content causes society to constantly pursue happiness. For example, nothing is enough for us so we strive to be the best in our society by having the biggest house, the most friends and the highest paid, self-fulfilled career…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Book I of Neomachean Ethics Aristotle explores the issue of happiness in order to determine the nature of the experience and its effects on the way people live their lives. He talks about the success and fulfillment of happiness and how it is our highest goal. However, Aristotle does not say that we should aim for happiness, but we do aim at happiness. His point is not to say that we should live happy lives, but to show us what a happy life consists of. He states a number of concepts relating to the term happiness that shocks everyone who hears. Nevertheless, his outstanding proclamations add to the understanding of the term happiness.…

    • 543 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    How To Be Happy

    • 2902 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Throughout history many have tried to find what makes the “good life”. One key consideration when discussing what makes the “good life” is happiness. Many have tried to define happiness or how to achieve it, such as Aristotle in The Eudemian Ethics. Happiness seems to be subject to personal interpretation, but what makes people happy or leads to happiness seems to be rooted in human interaction and habit. People who consider themselves to be happy have strong family and friend networks. (Happy, 2011)(Fleeson, 2002). Another attribute that leads to a happy person is resilience. The better one is able to recover from a bad situation the happier they will be. Financial status, to a degree, plays a part in happiness. Aristotle examines happiness as consisting of three parts: wisdom, virtue, and pleasure. He comes to the conclusion that the one aspect that truly matters is virtue. Living through Aristotle’s definition of a virtuous life is part of leading a happy life. Without the right virtues that Aristotle speaks about you can lead a very unhappy life even while being resilient. Happiness is rooted in resilience and virtue.…

    • 2902 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    By living in happiness it consists of honor, wealth, pleasure, and a life of contemplation and reason. Some things are worthy in and of itself and not in the attainment of other thing. Aristotle claims that nearly everyone would agree that happiness is the end which meets all requirements. I believe that is partially true, but it also can enrich the soul. The goal of man is reason. It is not something that can be gained or lost in a few hours, like pleasurable sensation. However, man uses reason by establishing facts through induction, perception, habituation, and other investigation. According to Aristotle, happiness consists in achieving, through the course of a whole lifetime. It then leads to the perfection of human nature and to the enrichment of human…

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Adjustment Essay

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Happiness comes hard to a lot of people, most people actually. Being happy can mean you’re not only satisfied but content or pleasured with the outcome of the situation or life. Some people get their happiness from other people. Seeing the ones they care about happy can make them happy even if they aren’t happy with themselves. Some people get happy by success as we already talked about, success is one of the main reasons people are happy nowadays. Studies show that since the 1800s people’s happiness has decreased dramatically. Happiness can be one of the many keys to life.…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short story The Happy Man written by Maguib Mahfouz is about a protagonist which throughout the story is referred to as the “Happy Man”. The protagonist one day wakes up and finds himself to be “inconceivably happy”, which means this man has the feeling of unbelievable happiness. This is ironic in the sense that Maguib Mahfouz gives the reader clues to what the true situation and meaning of the unbelievable happiness is. It is the mental state known as depression. It is with this the reader is able to grasp the concept that true and pure happiness is unachievable and this is because life is filled with sadness as well as happiness. This is proved using the contrasting words or actions/thoughts the “Happy Man” experiences with the emotional state he is currently in, and so pure happiness in this domain is impossible to achieve and being happy one-hundred percent of the time is also not possible. The objective of pure happiness is unobtainable because for that to occur there cannot be a source of sadness. Since there can never be a moment where you do not experience sadness, it is not possible. That is what it means to be purely happy. At some point in one’s life, loss occurs which is a feeling linked with sadness. This is why the ideal of one-hundred percent happiness is not possible because loss is experiences by all. A proof of this thesis is that throughout the story the “Happy Man’s” actions and his emotions are in conflict with each other. His emotions will be expressing happiness, but his thoughts/actions are expression the polar opposite.…

    • 1442 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Happy Feelings

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Happiness is something that does normally come to everyone in one way shape or form. Happiness is not something that just comes, it’s something that you create. In a person’s life if you are waiting on something to change in order to be happy, then you’re not living life. When you adopt a positive attitude, life becomes a rewarding instead of something to get through.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays