Happiness Reconsidered

A conversation with philosopher Jennifer Caseldine-Bracht

Photo by Matt Seymour on Unsplash

JA: I began my last post concerned about the recent media flood of advice about happiness.

JCB: I agree that popular reports about achieving happiness can be superficial. I, too, sometimes agree with the advice offered, but to claim that these steps can lead us to happiness reminds me that untruth flourishes most profusely when it is hiding in some kernels of truth.

JA: I call those kernels “seductive half-truths.”

JCB: In the case of tips on how to be happy, the truth is that some tips can benefit one's life. But the larger untruth is that these steps alone will likely not lead to a well-lived or a happy life.

JA: I used a social science definition, of happiness as a reasonably stable feeling. But there are other ways to define it.

JCB: I think of happiness as closer to well-being than to a feeling. Aristotle's concept of eudaimonia provides a good foundation; it refers to a flourishing life.

JA: Eudaimonia: The exercise of one’s capacities in a life that affords them scope.

JCB: Yes. But a well-lived life doesn’t end with one’s individual flourishing. It has to include working to create an environment where our personal flourishing helps foster a cascading flourishing effect for others. These "others" include flowers, soil, animals, other human beings, and so on. How can my well-being enhance their ability to thrive, too, and to what degree? 

JA: I found some “how-to-be-happy” suggestions self-defeating.

And they are. I’d add more reasons to be skeptical about them. To be fully human is to care for people and things outside of ourselves -- and that always risks heartbreak. Part of the human condition is to be needy, interdependent, emotional. We ignore this part of the universal human experience at our peril.

In addition, we can't always know in advance what will make us happy. A transformative experience can change our point of view and with it our core preferences. Going to war, having a baby, or going to graduate school is each a transformative experience. We can’t know that until it happens.

JA: By the time I finished, I had arrived at a deeper concern: that those lists encouraged narcissism.

JCB: I share that concern.

Eastern philosophies do a better job of addressing this issue. In Buddhism, one aim is to achieve harmony. We are invited to consider the inescapable reality of our mutual interconnectedness. Confucius focuses on the importance of virtuous relationships. Embracing these concepts can provide a potent antidote to narcissism.

JA: But here at home, in a hyper-individualist culture?

JCB: We honor rebellion. Let’s encourage thoughtful rebellion against that which injures the soul. Against any system, policy, or outlook that limits the space in which well-being can flourish. Let’s forge a different, more substantive path. In that spirit, I cultivate the virtue of being skeptical of advertisers who constantly inundate me with suggestions of what to do, believe, or buy, in order to obtain a bit of happiness. Even subconsciously internalizing these messages would lead to anything other than a life well lived. 

Instead, I learn from the thoughts of others, not so much about happiness as about a full life.  For starters, I have tried to answer Mary Oliver’s question about what I plan to do with my “one wild and precious life.” She answered her own question by paying attention to the natural world and by writing poetry, among other things.

Jane Addams' words also inspire me. She encourages readers to listen to other  points of view and to immerse themselves in experiences unlike their own, to understand the world better. She wrote that if we don't genuinely listen to people, then “we not only tremendously circumscribe our range of life but also limit the scope of our ethics.”  Well, who would want that? 

You mentioned the hedonistic paradox. I am reminded of another, a paradox of practicality. What we believe to be useful is generally much smaller than what actually is. If it weren’t for the dreamers, the possible would never have a chance to become actual. Exploring ideas simply for our own joy can expand the scope of what is possible. It may paradoxically be more practical than pretending to know in advance what can be done.

Fantasy can be a part of hope. When we fantasize about better possible worlds, we are not retreating from the world, we’re engaging with it. We should live in a way that recognizes hope as a verb.  Are we hoping enough? How would happiness be possible without hope? Hope, of course, is different from optimism. Hope recognizes that our ends may not be achieved but that the ends are possible. Hope requires effort. 

JA: Last New Year’s , I wrote a column called Hope is a Verb, Hope is a Virtue.

JCB: Happiness is not guaranteed. How could it be? Risk is part of the human condition.

There’s still value in thinking about its pursuit, even if we cannot produce definitive answers. We can make incremental progress, always understanding a little more. From some Eastern philosophies , there’s value especially if we don’t expect a definitive answer. Simply reflecting on an unanswerable question can lead us away from a dualistic – an oversimplified, black and white -- mindset.

I am grateful that others have taken the time to write about this topic, and from such diverse perspectives. They  provide ways for me to think more deeply. Which reminds me of a recent article in a popular magazine claiming gratitude is an essential component of a happy life.

Sometimes the popular magazines get it right.

Jennifer Caseldine-Bracht is a free-lance philosopher and friend.