States of happiness By Burak Samli

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.