What is happiness?
Let’s review some reflections on “happiness” from some of the most notable philosophers.
Gautama Buddha (6th-5th century B.C.): “There is no path to happiness; happiness is the
path.”
According to Buddhism, happiness resides in the enriching experiences we live through while
pursuing a goal, because once we achieve what we desired, the satisfaction is very brief.
Socrates (470-399 B.C.): “The secret of happiness is not found in seeking more, but in
developing the capacity to enjoy less.”
Plato (427-347 B.C.): “The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depend upon
himself, and not upon others, has adopted the best plan for living happily.” “Know thyself.”
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.): “Happiness depends upon ourselves.”
Seneca (4 B.C.-65 A.D.): “The great blessings of humanity are within us and within our reach.
A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.”
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): “Happiness; more than a desire, joy, or choice, is a duty.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862): “Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the
more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly
on your shoulder.”
Thoreau wrote Walden , a book against all servitude and in favor of happiness as the only
wealth of human beings, a happiness that comes from living intensely in the moment.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873): One of the main authors of utilitarianism, argued that the desire
to be happy above all other desires (eudemonism) is present in every human being. Mill
considered happiness as the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): “Happiness is the feeling that power increases, that a
resistance has been overcome.”
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970): “Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most
fatal to true happiness.”
Russell, the author of The Conquest of Happiness , a Nobel Prize-winning writer, and a key
figure in analytical philosophy, conceived love as an instrument for achieving happiness. For
the British philosopher, love helps to break the ego and overcome the barrier of vanity that
prevents us from being happy.
José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955): “Happiness is the life devoted to occupations for which
each man has a singular vocation.”
Ortega y Gasset believed that the happiness we feel is directly proportional to the amount of
time we spend engaged in activities that fully absorb our attention and bring us joy.
So, can we define the parameters of happiness to immerse ourselves in it?
Human beings live in complex times for personal development.
We live in a world lacking authenticity, full of hypocrisy and falsehood, where we are led to
pursue goals that do not meet our needs as social and communal beings.
Life expectancy has increased by nearly 40 years in the last century, as has social well-being.
In the past, people did not have time to think about being happy; their lives were typically
limited to being born, growing up, finding a partner and a job, reproducing, and then dying
within a few years. Today, this has changed.
Why is our society not happy?
Agape (Unconditional love for everyone and everything)
The key is the warmth of the personal relationships we maintain. Having and nurturing a
network of friendships adds years to your life.
It is scientifically proven that acceptance, kindness, touch, hugs, and a positive, friendly, and
welcoming environment are what any human being needs for integral well-being, and it is the
foundation of a healthy and happy life.
We may achieve material prosperity and success, but without affection, without kind and
loving companionship, we wither in emotional emptiness and loneliness.
Happiness is achieved by helping others; this is how we make ourselves feel better. Biologically
speaking, those who help the group, as the social animals we are, are accepted and rewarded
by nature, feeling better, happier, healthier (their immune system is strengthened) to live
longer and help their species survive and develop.
However, humans insist on seeking happiness in trivial external things, which is why in the
painting, one eye is desperately searching for something that is actually very close, but does
not see it.
In contrast to the chimera, on the opposite side, on the back of the figure, there are hands
asking for help, meaning we live with our backs turned to the true meaning of life, which is to
help others. Only then will we truly find “Happiness.”
Be, not have!
Illuminate, not just shine!
Consumerism (The purchase or accumulation of non-essential goods and services, driven by
misleading advertising)
Competitiveness (Competition generates lack of solidarity and contempt, yet we are forced
from a young age to be the best and to defeat our rivals)
Social Networks (The exchange of our public image through social networks generates
frustration and discomfort because they show us idealized lives based on success, beauty,
money, and power, or on the admiration and opinions of others. Anyone who does not possess
these elements and believes that happiness is based on them will feel frustrated, socially
rejected, and will live in continuous depression and emptiness)
These three factors, among others, are evidently based on fallacies, but not the data on mental
health issues directly or indirectly associated with these reasons, according to the Spanish
Confederation of Mental Health.
One in four people will suffer a mental disorder at some point in their life.
Between 35% and 50% of people do not receive treatment, or it is inadequate.
Nearly 800,000 people commit suicide each year, making it the second leading cause of death
among people aged 15 to 29.
Therefore, it is a real problem; people are not happy, despite the fact that in documents like
the Declaration of Independence of the United States and the Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen after the French Revolution, happiness is recognized as a universal right and
obligation of the individual.
So, what is happening?
What is “Happiness”?
Happiness is an emotion or state of mind experienced by a conscious being when they reach a
moment of contentment, well-being, or have achieved certain desirable goals.
However, neither contentment nor well-being is achieved because the desirable goals are not
those that truly fulfill us as human beings.
We live in a constant pursuit of a chimera.
The chimera is something proposed to the imagination as possible or true, yet it is not.
In Greek mythology, the Chimera is a monster that breathes fire, with the head of a lion, the
body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon.
The painting Happiness is an autobiographical reflection; in the painting, there is a figure that
represents me, trying to capture this chimera. It symbolizes the desire for things we want but
do not need.
The chimera once sowed panic by devouring animals and destroying entire villages until finally,
Pegasus, the winged horse, along with Bellerophon, defeated it. Pegasus symbolizes
humanity’s quest to end dissatisfaction, in this case, caused by the chimera.
At the center of the painting, there is a skull formed by naked women, titled In Voluptas Mors
(Voluptuous Death), which translates to “In pleasure, there is death,” a photograph conceived by Salvador Dalí in 1951.
Most humans base their happiness on the quick rewards that pleasure gives them, a concept
known as hedonism.
What happens is that we let ourselves be dominated by the pursuit of immediate pleasure, the
release of dopamine, a powerful neurotransmitter that triggers euphoria and a sense of
reward in our brains. But this pleasure does not last long, and just like drugs, it drives us to
keep seeking it, to feel that immediate satisfaction again. However, pleasure generates
tolerance, and we will need more and more stimulus to achieve it.
On the other hand, we have serotonin, the so-called “hormone of well-being,” which brings
calm and lasting satisfaction, making us feel happy and content in a more enduring way.
Dopamine and serotonin are incompatible. The former suppresses the latter, so the more we
seek pleasure for the sake of pleasure, the further we move away from the possibility of being
calm, happy, and satisfied. We could say that pleasure is earthly and ephemeral, while
happiness is ethereal and more enduring.
Endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin are four natural chemicals (hormones) known
as “the quartet of happiness.” This name is due to their involvement in biological processes
that trigger the feeling of happiness.
In the painting, at the top of my head, there is a test tube, showing that everything that
happens in our heads is due to chemical reactions of fluids secreted by our glands, like the
hypothalamus, which controls a wide range of essential functions for our brain, including
happiness or its absence.
Next to the test tube appears the formula of the hormone serotonin, which we have explained
is associated with happiness: C₁₀H₁₂N₂O.
In other words, scientifically speaking, happiness is the ability of your brain to produce
serotonin in a balanced way.
In the near future, human beings will likely have pumps integrated into their bodies to regulate
their hormonal deficiencies.
So, how can we achieve the much-desired happiness?
In the painting, there are two “stone men” with sad expressions, wandering through life
without Ikigai.
There is a Japanese concept called ‘Ikigai,’ a life approach based on the idea of “life purpose.”
Discovering our ‘Ikigai’ is equivalent to understanding our “reason for being” in the world,
finding out what we are passionate about and what we can contribute. We all have our ‘Ikigai,’
and it is usually related to what we were passionate about as children.
What motivates you to get out of bed every day? That is ‘Ikigai,’ formed by two Japanese
words: “iki,” meaning life, and “gai,” meaning worth. Literally, it means: A life worth living, a
purpose in life, a mission.
Happiness = Illusion and Task
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.) said: “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of
your thoughts.”
It has been proven that 80% of what happens is invented by us, and the other 20% is reality.
This concept is represented in the painting by little figures pulling upwards on the zygomaticus
major, the facial muscle that contracts when we smile, making us feel happy, and downwards on the
zygomaticus minor, the facial muscle that contracts with sadness or crying.ç
We often cannot control how events unfold, but we can control how they affect us, hence the
ability to decide which muscle we will contract (and therefore the attitude we will take) in
response to external factors.
Happiness is not a feeling; it is a decision.
Determination, spirit, and will.
Lao Tzu (601-531 B.C.) said: “If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are
anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”
In the late 1930s, American sociologists William Thomas Grant and Lewis Terman conducted
the largest and most serious study on happiness ever conducted, a study that lasted 65 years
and involved around 600 people. This study has become one of the most important references
in personal happiness research.
The 65 years and twenty million dollars spent on the grand project point to a single conclusion:
“To be loved and to love is the most important thing for being happy.”
Love, a powerful healing energy, is the source of life, well-being, and happiness.
There are three types of love:
- Eros (Romantic love)
- Philia (Love for children, family, friends)
- Agape (Unconditional love for everyone and everything)
The key is the warmth of the personal relationships we maintain. Having and nurturing a
network of friendships adds years to your life.
It is scientifically proven that acceptance, kindness, touch, hugs, and a positive, friendly, and
welcoming environment are what any human being needs for integral well-being, and it is the
foundation of a healthy and happy life.
We may achieve material prosperity and success, but without affection, without kind and
loving companionship, we wither in emotional emptiness and loneliness.
Happiness is achieved by helping others; this is how we make ourselves feel better. Biologically
speaking, those who help the group, as the social animals we are, are accepted and rewarded
by nature, feeling better, happier, healthier (their immune system is strengthened) to live
longer and help their species survive and develop.
However, humans insist on seeking happiness in trivial external things, which is why in the
painting, one eye is desperately searching for something that is actually very close, but does
not see it.
In contrast to the chimera, on the opposite side, on the back of the figure, there are hands
asking for help, meaning we live with our backs turned to the true meaning of life, which is to
help others. Only then will we truly find “Happiness.”
Be, not have!
Illuminate, not just shine!
