One
definition states that happiness is a mental state composed of three
elements: pleasure, absence of displeasure, and satisfaction. There are
several problems with this definition. For a start, the moments of
greatest pleasure that many people experience
are often associated with the possibility of acute distress. Take the
example of a penalty shoot out in a World Cup final. For one team and
their fans, ecstasy awaits, while for the opposing team and their fans,
despair is the outcome. Yet, until that final moment, the identities of
the winners and losers - the happy and the sad - are unknown.
If
one team had won the game 10-0, the match would have involved no
tension, no excitement; it would have been a tedious procession to the
finishing line. So, the possibility of catastrophic defeat i.e. the
shadow of extreme displeasure, must be present in order for pleasure to
be maximised. The early days of a love affair are the most intense for
precisely the same reason.
Equally, a feeling of
satisfaction is often associated with the overcoming of tremendous
obstacles. The mountaineer gazing out over the world from the peak of
Everest didn't get there by not courting pain, exhaustion, fear, danger,
risk. His satisfaction is bound to the effort expended, the amount of
sacrifice, the degree of danger. If he could just stroll up to the
summit, or fly there like Superman, he would enjoy no satisfaction at
all. And what of John Stuart Mill's assertion that it's better to be
Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied? Who would be happy being a
pig?
Also, the definition of happiness with which we
began pays no attention to the element of time. Isn't happiness
fundamentally ephemeral? The mountaineer who has conquered Everest
doesn't go home and spend the rest of his life being happy about that
single accomplishment. He sets himself a new target - a new mountain to
climb, a new, more difficult, route to the summit, attempting the climb
without oxygen canisters etc. And, until he achieves this new goal, he's
again unhappy. So it goes on: an endless chain of targets set, and only
fleeting enjoyment of happiness as each is accomplished. This
observation led Schopenhauer to the conclusion that no one is ever truly
happy. Life, in his opinion, was unalleviated misery, to the extent
that he actually regarded it as malign.
In fact,
happiness may actually be absent as each goal is met. Some footballers
have talked about being disembodied after winning a cup final. They
can't connect with what's happening: the experience has bypassed them
somehow.
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