I think the only end that one can claim is the goal of every human being would be to achieve ultimate happiness.
Now, of course, ultimate happiness is a relative term: each person’s definition is dependent on his own disposition.
The evidence is clear and overwhelming.
For some, the ultimate happiness is thought to be achieved through wealth. For this reason, people work long hours, spending little or no time with families. They continue to work in jobs they despise because the pay is good and the security of having a normal routine is comfortable.
For others, the ultimate happiness is marriage and a family. For this reason, people search for years for “that special someone.” They devote their lives not necessarily to enjoying being alive, but to finding someone that makes being alive feel like everything. They get married and have children.
While few people who devote their lives to gaining wealth find this ultimate happiness, it is much more likely in the family scenario.
Why is this?
There could be any number of reasons. One which seems particularly probable is the idea that ultimate happiness is obtained by finding someone who is more important to yourself than you are. This would explain why happiness would be present in a family more than in a relationship with finances.
Which leads to the next question: How do we achieve ultimate happiness?
For those who believe that ultimate happiness is found in a marriage partner and offspring, the pathway is pretty well paved.
However, should you find that you truly have no desire to spend your life with someone else, it is still of benefit to find someone, or in more cases something, that you are able to see as more important than yourself.
If work is something you want to devote your life to, find something that is meaning, something that makes you feel good about yourself.
If excitement is your passion, see the world. Experience all there is to experience. Try skydiving, bungee jumping and all of those activities you never thought (or maybe always dreamed) you would do.
The key here is to find something that makes you happy and run with it.
3 comments:
Are you saying that happiness is identical to fulfillment of desires and that since everyone has different desires....?
Would you say all desires are equal? Or are some desires, once fulfilled, more conducive to happiness than others? If so, then you must think that happiness is something *more* the mere fulfillment of desires, but fulfillment of the *right* desires. And then the question becomes what are the right desires.
In a related way, should findind ultimate happiness, if that is the goal of every person, really be encouraged? If a person is truly happiest when he is stalking and murdering innocent people on the subway, is that something that should be encouraged, if everyone else is encouraged to do what makes them happy, to deny him the right would seem unfair, right? In other words, is there a connection between being ethical and reaching ultimate happiness?
Following your example of a serial killer, no (unless you're Socrates), you don't have to be ethical to be happy...if they really are happy. (Although, I'm not entirely sure they are, isn't it usually a mental illness, societal definition or not?) But unfortunately, that's where a governing body steps in: under the US' Constitution, you have the freedom to pursue happiness as long as you don't infringe upon the rights of others. If your happiness conflicts with others', re-ask yourself: is it better in self-interest to harm or be harmed?
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