From joy to insight, humanity’s dance with this emotion spans ages.
Exploring the true nature of happiness
What does it mean to be happy? Is it down to luck? Is it dependent on others? Or is it a state you can choose to enter every day? A blueprint for happiness is much sought after in modern western society – just think of how often it crops up in everyday conversations, countless bestselling self-development books, and various chart-topping wellbeing podcasts. There are many people who spend time and money on coaching programs to help them feel happier, and psychology and other academic fi elds have seen an increased focus on the subject over the past century.
Tracing the roots of happiness in language & history
In the English language, the term “happiness” emerged in the early 16th century and meant ‘to be lucky or favoured by fortune’. But questions about how to conceptualise this emotion stretch back to the ancient philosophers, and it has been defined in myriad ways across continents through the ages. This is highlighted in the research paper, A Global History of Happiness, by Harvard psychology research scientist Tim Lomas. Published in 2021 in the International Journal of Wellbeing, the paper highlights that despite the belief held by some that happiness is a distinctly modern and western concept, related ideas are evident in the earliest of human cultures. Perhaps one way to understand what happiness means, then, is to travel back in time and across borders to see the various ways it has been perceived by different cultures.
First peoples’ perspectives on a life well-lived
In its broadest sense, happiness is conceived as a desirable state of mind. This is evident in aljerre-nge, the complex cultural-religious belief system of the Arrente, a group of First Nations People in Australia. Aljerre-nge offers a holistic vision of how to live well, which includes guidance on the relationship with the land, how to interact with others, and alignment with the cosmic order.
Believed to have migrated from Africa over 60,000 years ago, the Arrente are considered the oldest recorded culture, which means that concepts like aljerre-nge are arguably the earliest perspectives on happiness in existence.
Buddhist teachings: pathways to enlightenment & joy
According to Buddhist texts, Siddhartha Gautama meditated under a tree without moving for 49 days. It is here he attained enlightenment and came to be known as the honorific Buddha, which means ‘the enlightened one’ in Sanskrit. Born in Nepal around 480 BCE, he’s widely venerated for his teachings on happiness.
The Four Noble Truths – of suffering (dukkha), the origin of suffering (samudāya), the cessation of suffering (nirodha), and the path to the cessation of suffering (magga) – are at the core of these teachings. It is perhaps the fourth of these that most closely relates to happiness as it’s understood in the west today, and it involves following the Noble Eightfold Path as its guiding principles. These are: right action, right speech, right livelihood, right mindfulness, right effort, right concentration, right view or understanding, and right intention. Advancing along this path – which is also called the Threefold Way, as it contains the three basic aspects of Buddhist life, namely ethics, meditation, and wisdom – is thought to allow for sukha, a concept akin to pleasure and ease. But the ultimate goal, which the Buddha and others since have attained, is to reach the liberation of nirvāna. This is a transformed state of being, where greed, hatred, and delusion are replaced with a deep sense of spiritual joy, peace, and awareness.
Greek philosophy’s lasting influence on happiness
From democracy to philosophy, concepts born in Hellenistic Greece have left a huge imprint on modern life. It follows that Greek thinkers from this era have had arguably the most influence on how happiness is understood today.
Aristotle is perhaps the most well-known. He regarded happiness as the highest good and an end in itself. According to him, there are two types of happiness: hedonia (happiness as pleasure) and eudaimonia (happiness as fulfilment). The former is a fleeting feeling, while the latter is an accumulation of health, wealth, knowledge, and relationships through the course of a lifetime. For Aristotle, eudaimonia is the only desirable type of happiness.
In Nicomachean Ethics, written around 340 BCE, he defines it as ‘the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue’. In essence, he believed happiness was a result of a life well-lived.
Stoicism, a school of philosophy founded around 300 BCE, insists that virtue (good character) is all that’s needed for true happiness. In his dialogue De Vita Beata (On the Happy Life), for example, the Roman stoic philosopher Seneca includes phrases such as ‘the happy man is content with his present lot, no matter what it is’. For Stoics, a tranquil happiness occurs though a calm detachment from external things.
Islamic insights into the journey of fulfilment
Although its roots go back further, historians believe that Islam originated in Mecca in the seventh century CE. Among its many teachings are in-depth commentaries on what it means to be happy. Islam describes the kinds of practices thought to lead to desirable states of mind, such as character development, temperance, modesty, and self-restraint. Like the Hellenistic idea of eudaimonia, Islam regards happiness as a lifelong process rather than an ephemeral moment of joy. The Qur’an differentiates between forms of happiness, including mut’a, a temporary sensual pleasure, and sa’adah, which is understood as the ultimate happiness awarded in the afterlife. The joys available in this world are also split into two types: blameworthy (celebrating the life of this world) and praiseworthy (rejoicing in life as a gift from God). Living well in this world is regarded as a means by which to arrive at permanent happiness in the next.
The Renaissance: a new understanding of happiness
It is in the Renaissance period that the English word “happiness” comes into being. Derived from the Old Norse noun hap, “happiness” and “happy” originally referred to the state of being lucky or fortunate. The word “felicity”, from the Latin fēlīx, meant the state of joy many associate with happiness today.
Throughout the Renaissance, the word “happy” was increasingly used to convey the ideas attributed to felicity. Phil Withington, professor in social and cultural history at the University of Sheffield in England, notes, however, that while the language of felicity remained elite and associated with scholars, “happiness” appealed to the wider public: ‘The ideas derived from Aristotle and discussed by people familiar with Latin and Greek were shifted on to the word, popularised, and made more available to ordinary people,’ he says. Existing concepts gravitated towards the word “happiness” and were shared through this language.
Enlightenment views on achieving happiness
In the Enlightenment, happiness started to mean something more tangible, a state that could be worked towards and achieved. The shift is best captured in the English translations of social philosopher Thomas More’s groundbreaking book Utopia, which imagined a fictional society designed to promote the happiness of its residents. The word “happiness” is absent from the first English translation by Ralph Robinson in 1551, but in Gilbert Burnet’s 1684 translation (the Enlightenment version) it appears 19 times. Professor Withington says that ‘all sorts of the concepts that Ralph Robinson uses, Burnet translates into “happiness”, as it had acquired many new meanings in this period which it didn’t have before’. Significantly, in Utopia, everything is calculated to achieve happiness – the opposite of luck or fortune. More’s imaginary world envisioned ways of improving the real one, a goal that became increasingly significant during the Enlightenment.
Writing in the 1720s, Scottish-Irish philosopher Francis Hutcheson presented his theory of how this might be achieved, arguing that ‘the action is best which procures the greatest happiness in the greatest numbers’. He laid the groundwork for utilitarianism, a theory of morality that advocates actions that cause pleasure and opposes those which lead to harm. Utilitarianism believes that the right decision is the one that fosters the most happiness for the largest number of people.
Uncovering universal themes in the pursuit of happiness
While the answer to the question, “What does it mean to be happy?”, remains elusive, it’s possible to gain some clarity by exploring the common themes at the core of these varied cultural and philosophical perspectives. It could be gleaned that happiness is less about a moment of individual satisfaction and more about living a meaningful life.
Whatever your dreams – being promoted at work, starting a family, visiting far-flung lands, getting your art exhibited by a gallery – you might fantasise about the elation you’ll feel when it happens. But this will only be a
momentary boost. Modern theories in positive psychology suggest that eventually people always return to their baseline level of happiness, regardless of what happens to them. Taking time to embrace positive experiences and savouring every joy can slow the rate at which the feeling dissipates, but a real upward shift in the baseline might be more likely when you look beyond yourself.
As Brendan W Case, Harvard associate director of research and co-author of A Global History of Happiness, suggests: ‘Although there are huge differences in what is taken to be a satisfying life, almost all of the key thinkers agree that what constitutes genuine happiness is not the rush of pleasure you get from riding a roller coaster, that’s momentary, it’s something more durable, less subject to fortune and chance.’
WORDS: Heather Grant
