Many of us have felt the sparkling allure of pura vida, the simple life, and hygge, the feeling of cozy contentment. Our culture urges us to keep what “sparks joy” and to “live your best life” through curated spreads and marketing campaigns. Each image, slogan, and promise represents a fragment of the kind of life one might call good – a life marked by joy, simplicity, and authenticity – but what does it mean to actually be happy, and what really is the elusive “good life” we always seem to want but can’t have?
Happiness is More Than A Feeling
The Greek philosopher Aristotle explained in his Nicomachean Ethics that true happiness consists in attaining highest human good. His concept of eudaimonia (translating roughly to “happiness” or welfare,”) is not an emotional condition, but rather the practice of virtue and the pursuit of truth. While one can grow in virtues like honesty, humility, and courage over time, no single person can ever grasp the entire truth about human nature or our world, or act in perfect virtue all the time. This is not an excuse to abandon the pursuit of truth or practice of virtue altogether, but a normal human limitation with which every person is faced and which every person is intended to overcome throughout their lives.
Imperfect, But Made to Do Good
No person begins with a full understanding of the “right thing to do” in every situation. In fact, most of us should probably admit that we often don’t know the right thing to do and often do the wrong thing because it’s preferable or convenient. In light of our tendency to act out of vices like deceit, pride, and cowardice, Aristotle’s concept of eudaimonia effectively redirects our self-centeredness outward toward objective reality – real people and matters which have a life of their own outside of our comparatively narrow conception of the world. These real people and real matters help us realize where we can improve, but they also help us to hope in the possibility of a happiness which we can’t, in our sorry state, imagine. The fact is, that no matter how vicious we might be, we can begin to cultivate virtue once we realize where we honestly stand. Without openness to learning the truth about oneself and the world, happiness will not only be elusive, but unattainable.
Embrace the Beauty That Awaits You
What does Aristotle’s lesson on eudaimonia have to do with our personal pursuit of happiness? Our world today is saturated with so many competing visions of the good, some leading in the direction of truth, beauty, and goodness and others leading in the direction of lies, ugliness, and evil. To determine whether you’ve fallen victim to the latter, first honestly ask yourself if you are happy. Then, ask yourself whether you’ve based your happiness on enduring foundations like virtue and truth or on passing things like popularity, appearances, or the latest tech. Start by being honest with yourself, and build on that honesty by making yourself available to the uncomfortable truths which may reveal themselves to you, one by one. Every day, make at least one conscious attempt to resist the temptation to lie, instead proclaiming the truth boldly and without shame. The virtuous road can be a bumpy one, but fortunately it always proves a beautiful and enlightening journey.
