So what have some western civilization\u2019s sensitive, rational thinkers had to say about happiness<\/span>?<\/p>\n Socrates, always a good place to start, is presented in the Euthydemus<\/span> arguing that happiness is the <\/span>overriding goal in life. We\u2019re given a nice list of potential goods to choose from as the source(s) of happiness:<\/p>\n 1) wealth, Athenian citizens generally agreed it was a matter of the first five, the sixth being merely an instrumental good (helpful for getting the other ones but not leading to happiness itself). Socrates disagrees, go figure, arguing that it is wisdom alone<\/span> which ensures happiness. Wisdom, for Socrates, was not a matter of knowledge<\/span> or political mastery or any of the rest of society\u2019s misconceptions; wisdom is knowing what one needs in life, knowing how to use well what one has (including one\u2019s body and intelligence) .<\/p>\n From this wisdom, Socrates felt that the virtues above would naturally follow. The other goods, as much today as then in Athens, may well follow, but are neither necessary nor sufficient for happiness.<\/p>\n Yet today, as much as ever, we fail to see the way to happiness. Simply put, happiness is our natural state of being, wisdom is the return to that state.<\/p>\n German philosopher Immanuel Kant makes the distinction between two kinds of love: practical and pathological. Practical love<\/span> he defines as beneficence for duty\u2019s sake, even though we are not impelled to it by any inclination- nay, are even repelled by a natural and unconquerable aversion<\/span>. This is the love commanded in the Gospels, a love which is indiscriminate, universal, and effortless. <\/p>\n This kind of love both flows from happiness, it is an expression of our natural state \u2018shining through\u2019, if only for a while, and it sets in motion the conditions for further happiness. It creates the conditions for further happiness in giving others a glimpse, sometimes seen, sometimes felt, of goodness<\/span>, pure and unassuming. <\/p>\n My hunch is that we can learn to watch ourselves, setting out each day with an ideal<\/span> of openly caring for everyone (animals included) we encounter, and observing how well we bring that ideal into actuality<\/span> through our actions. That original intention<\/span> at the start of the day is needed while we develop our wisdom and virtues, but it is nothing if we do not translate it into acts<\/span> of pure and unassuming goodness. We have all already experienced goodness at one time or another in our own lives and history has provided us with countless examples of people who have cultivated goodness, love, and happiness. <\/p>\n The fancy word for the back-and-forth between our ideal of pure love\/goodness\/happiness and the not-so-ideal muck of stress, frustration, and so on is dialectic<\/span>. First we must<\/span> recognize the ideal though \u2013 or the muck will envelop us, cynicism will set in, happiness will be sought in all the wrong places, and so on. The ideal<\/span> is our rope in the quicksand of life. It won\u2019t pull us out all by itself, but it soon becomes clear that the alternative, wildly thrashing about, won\u2019t get us anywhere.<\/p>\n Part of my own love of wisdom is due to admiration for those who have pursued it before, the lives they lead. Successful philosophers, perhaps like poets and theologians, are those most sensitive to the world, whether that be expressed in the political treatise or existentialist novella. Unlike the poet, however, the philosopher must rely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
2) health and good looks,
3) social status,
4) good fortune,
5) the virtues of temperance, justice, and courage, and
6) wisdom.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7907151-113843436780970267?l=americanbuddhist.blogspot.com\")