Happiness
I wrote this essay before I read widely about happiness. While it's not what I would write now, I still like it, so it's still here.
Happiness is the end state / the definitive explanation / the answer that doesn't attract another question: "because it makes me happy".
Is it a valid aim to be happy all the time? Or is happiness - let's say ecstatic happiness - that is above a feasible average doomed to be balanced by a low mood later?
Are there different types of happiness? Ecstatic happiness; contented happiness; finished-a-project happiness; flattery happiness; laid back happiness; laid out happiness. Yes, there are infinite varieties of happiness.
The Buddha recommended a middle way: doing a moderate amount of whatever you want to do as a happy balance between doing everything and doing nothing. Neither of the latter worked for him.
According to social scientists, the happiness index is unchanged by decades of material progress. This supports the argument that you only get so much happiness. Anyway, more stuff doesn't lastingly make you happier, no, you keep having to get new stuff to replenish the feeling, eventually absurdly so.
Are there different terms of happiness? Yes, there are short term happiness and long term happiness. A blend of the two - you're getting the idea, aren't you? - is good.
Can you trick happiness? As in, don't aim for happiness but aim for worthwhile other things and tease happiness into your life as a by-product? Yes, that's a valid approach.
Is happiness a barometer for whether you're doing the right thing? Yes, happiness can be the way you decide what to drop or keep and why. Complexities arise because usually you need to predict whether happiness will return. Once you drop an activity or a person, you may be convinced you were right, but you'll never actually know.
Is happiness relative? Relative to your past; relative to your expectations; relative to other people? Probably it is, and probably it would be a good thing if it wasn't.
What is the opposite of happiness? Sadness; misery; disappointment; bitterness; anxiety; neglect; indifference; boredom. Happiness has many opposites. Happiness can be broken in many ways.
What is the same as happiness? Nothing. Happiness is wholeness, and wholeness has a single form.
© Stephen Balmer