Pleasure or Happiness or Well-Being

 

Recently Putin stated “in life there is no happiness, only the specter of it.” Maybe, Putin, politically, was referring to Jefferson’s “pursuit of happiness.”  Putin likely meant that our people are pursuing mass killing, political divide, racism, hatred, acquisition, exploitation etc. instead of happiness. He made a valid point. Is happiness a ghost, phantom or illusion? My take on happiness follows.

Brief comments regarding pleasure and happiness are as follows: 1. In the Old Testament, the word happiness does not exist but the word joy does .Joy refers to rejoice and has a spiritual meaning expressing God’s goodness “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  Also, in the prophetic literature “then there will the virgins rejoice in the dance, both young man an old together: for I will turn their morning into joy.” Jeremiah (31:13) 2.  Aristotle, a free Greek with slaves, stated happiness is the highest goal of human life. Happiness can be achieved with the fulfillment of meeting needs and the activity of reason that is unique only to man. In order to obtain the experience of happiness, one had to achieve virtue which is the ability to moderate desires. In other words knowledge, reason and controlling passions are required. Do not forget that man’s extradonary use of rationalization and denial interferes with reason. 3. Aristippus, another Greek, stated that life’s meaning is unlimited bodily pleasure. Happiness, for him, was the sum total of pleasures, especially in the moment and absence of pain.  Do not forget, for some, dominating, exploiting, subjecting, and killing is sadistic and pleasurable. 4. Epicurus added that pure pleasure is the absence of fear since achieving pleasure is generally followed by unpleasure. True pleasure was serenity of the mind along with the ability, prudence and foresight to reject immediate gratification.  I agree and will comment later. 5. Spinoza believed that joy was the result of virtuous living; happiness was a virtue itself and related to potency which means achieving man’s potential. Thus, pleasure was not a primary mode of action but a companion of productive activity. That makes sense. 6. For Hobbes, happiness is essentially a continuous progress from one greed to another. Yea for capitalism. 7. Buddha, was a prince and had every pleasure and luxury that he could possibly want. He discovered that having and consuming resulted in unhappiness and suffering. For Buddha, Nirvana, was a state of joy, serenity and peace of mind.  No doubt, Jefferson was significantly influenced by the Greek philosophers. He would likely have realized that pleasure is subjective and limited to some while happiness is conjunctive with the good but difficult to obtain. Further, Jefferson’s idea, were limited at best. It was not based on an understanding of unconscious motivations and the dynamics of character. Yes, the pursuit of happiness sounded good at the time.

Interestingly, the words happiness and well-being cannot be found in a “Dictionary of Psychology” nor a “Psychiatric Glossary.” However, that does not mean that there is an absence of research. There is  research that suggests that  people  who score higher on well-being scales, have better social and work relationships, make more money, live longer, have healthier lives, and are more contributory societal citizens. Some, even refer to serotonin as a “happiness chemical.” Serotonin increases feelings of well-being, confidence and belonging. Humans are social animals and being around others is what causes happiness for many of us.” However, that can be a trap as there are many egoistic, sadistic, irrational and hateful Homo sapiens. More than likely, these individuals have no unconscious awareness of their unhappiness.

An economics professor, at Harvard, teaches a class on happiness. Happiness, according to this author, was too vague, too subjective and contained too many competing ideas to be adequately researched. That didn’t matter, he provided three equations for well-being: 1. Subjective well-being was composed of genes (can’t do much about that), circumstances (numerous and very difficult to quantify) and habits. I agree. 2. Habits are composed of student’s consistent faith (differences in faith and philosophies), family, friends (vague and we know that individuals relate to each other at different times aggressively and/or caringly} and work (vague and self-report) 3. Satisfaction equals what you have divided by what you want.

Difficulties for any research, are simply the operational definition of terms. The terms have to be concrete and measurable. Often, questionnaires are employed. One major problem with questionnaires are the various individual meanings applied to the questions. We’re not sure that we are always measuring the same item or idea. Some questions cannot be simply answered accurately. Individuals through the use of denial and rationalization generally do not see themselves very honestly. Translated this means, that the averages collected on the scale are just means for that one biased population studied. Therefore, it’s difficult to generalize the results to the population at large. In essence, we should be measuring not just a state of the mind or certain behaviors but the entire character of an individual. More simply put, a cursory response, on a questionnaire, of believing oneself happy, when it’s not the quality of the well-being of the whole person, is an illusionary thought and personal fiction. It is simply unrelated to genuine happiness or well-being.

A more thorough evaluation of well-being can be accomplished through in-depth interviews. However, that research is costly and time-consuming. As a result, questionnaires, reading of biographies, other opinions etc. are often used. On a side note, Freud’s psycho dynamic theory was largely based on his in depth knowledge of his patients and their case histories.

Turning to our capitalistic society, it has been driven toward private property (in Latin to deprive of), wealth, profit, and power. It seems, this drive state has been with us forever. In fact there is no consistent or patriotic way not to think about the motivational power of economics.  It’s about the accumulation, possession of money and all the items that can be possessed. It’s about having, accumulating and increasing by owning and possessing. What’s mine is mine and don’t touch it. One can fulfill that passion of acquiring by not only owning items, but by owning living beings like wife, children, pets etc. We can even acquire and keep increasing our friends, lovers, ideas and objects like art, books, music etc.

Many are expected, while in high school, to think about attending college in order to get a degree in order, primary purpose, to acquire wealth. Of course, money is supposed to result in happiness. Research puts a limit on the amount that supposedly equals happiness and even suggest there’s a diminishing return. Roughly, $ 75,000-$100,000 is supposed to be the magic number.

It should be stated, that this so-called seeking happiness which is the satisfaction of fulfilling any desire, is simply egotism, selfishness and greed. The system of generating and acting on irrational or false needs and harmful pleasures do not lead to harmony and peace but mental illness. Countries go to war in order to acquire resources regardless of the consequences. Profit is king and the hell with the workers. So what if they’re making minimum wage, crazy work hours in non-meaningful work. Hire them part-time so one doesn’t have to pay their health insurance etc.

Let’s take a full-time worker as an example. That worker generally has to commute to work from home. That could be a car or public transportation. How many people experience happiness, well-being or joy during the commute especially in heavy traffic?  How many people experience happiness, well-being or joy when making car payment, car maintenance, car insurance, getting a driver’s license etc.? How many people experience happiness, well-being or joy in a working environment sitting at a desk or workstation, taking orders or being supervised? In other words, the work time experience might equal over a third to a half of waking hours during a five-day week. No wonder, many count the days to their retirement. Many distort and rationalize their work experience and call it “happiness.” If one calls their work experience “unhappiness,” the dissonance would be great and would have a terrible paralyzing emotional effect. Thank denial, rationalization and the unconscious for not being able to see oneself realistically. However, observers witness fiction and reality more clearly.

We have a high rate of divorce which suggests limited happiness at best. Maybe happiness occurs when there is a divorce. Even marriage, without divorce, does not always equate in much happiness. Statistics on depression, suicide, (drug, alcohol and obesity are harmful pleasures) also translate into short term pleasure- happiness. Buying guns and ammunition do not equate, contrary to rationalization and fiction, in much happiness only in false security and hate. Physical illness, Dr. appointments, surgery insurance coverage hassles(21 million Americans hold $46 billion of medical dept.-No succor here) also do not bring much happiness nor does natural disasters like fire, hurricane, heat and cold waves, flooding etc.

The things we acquire such as home, car, electrical gadgets, household items, etc. are dead, not alive. They can be acquired, they can be stolen, can lose its value and be easily replaced. It’s an illusion of permanence. Items are made to be replaced and it’s important to the economy for them to be replaced.

Let’s use an example of millionaire NBA players. Currently, they state they are seeking an NBA championship. During their playoff series, they are asked, by reporters, about the game, why they did what they did etc. They don’t talk about the happiness of winning the game but instead say that they will look at game tape tomorrow and work on improving or getting better for the next scheduled game.  Any happiness was short-lived at best. When I finished my 100 mile Western states run, I smiled for the victory pictures, had a coke and went home. When I arrived home, I puked and could not make it up the second flight of stairs to bed because my quads and hamstrings were shot. During the run, I don’t remember experiencing happiness but I do remember feeling relieved and satisfied when I crossed the finish line. I valued my need for achievement with accomplishment.

Putin made a positive point. Pursuing happiness, finding pleasure, acquiring things, can be a self-defeating journey resulting in unhappiness. Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs acquired, exploited, dominated, and controlled their physical world. I would call them competitive geniuses but not the happiest people in the world.

Happiness, according to the great philosophers of the world, was an important motivational factor for man. In psychology, Freud discovered the dynamics of mental health and mental illness. Later, Maslow identified the concept of self-actualization as a motivational factor. Although, he did not deal with happiness he did identify 18 characteristics pertaining to the highest form of functioning in human beings.  However today, there has been much social science research pertaining to happiness and well-being. In fact, there exists popular college courses on the science of happiness.  Does this suggest there are many unhappy college students?

Happiness is an emotion in which one experiences feelings ranging from contentment and satisfaction to bliss and intense pleasure. When I was in private practice, I found that individuals had great difficulty differentiating feelings from thoughts. In everyday language, I continue to hear the words “I feel …” In essence, individuals express their thoughts, ideas and opinions and not their feelings or internal sensations. So any questionnaire asking somebody how they feel likely will not elicit a feeling but an attitude or belief. In other words, a pseudo-belief in pleasure and happiness is just that when it’s not part of one’s insight into self as well a characteristic of character. It’s just words, simply put, of self-deception and illusion.

In spite of the natural disasters, mortality of body and the insanity within our socioeconomic and political culture, the Greek philosophers, Spinoza, Hobbes, Buddha, Freud, Maslow and others thought a lot about pleasure, happiness, well-being, mental health and self-actualization. With that being said, there are numerous recipes for pleasure, happiness and well-being but there is not one guaranteed magic bullet, pill, religious idea or philosophical construct that fits the uniqueness for each living human.  Employing an id, ego and superego framework, the following is a path for human activity without a guarantee. Our culture has created and produced a plethora of short-term pleasures and/or desires. Incorporating the id, let’s distinguish between psychic tensions, needs or desires that are rational like achievement and irrational psychic tensions, needs or desires that are irrational like greed, alcohol, power, possession and prestige. Thus, it’s important to be able to moderate, delay gratification, discriminate and control acting out the irrational passions. The pleasures or irrational passions are easily obtained and contribute and facilitate an escape from the conflicts, craziness and contradictions within society. When employing our ego, we encounter hate, false information, paranoid ideas and normative lying on a daily basis. For productive reasoning, one has to have the ability to synthesize, integrate and accommodate information while not acting on the false narrative or fiction. This process or ability is related to conscience or superego. Having virtue, knowing and behaving( choices and decisions ) about what is right versus what is wrong, differentiating between a good life and evil life, and exhibiting humanistic values are required and necessary. We have to apply virtue behavior to ourselves and to others. Further, it is necessary to find intrinsic meaning in life; engaging in competitive physical behavior; and enriching one’s emotional life by mutual physical contact, within the behaviors of caring, sharing and trusting. Simply put, pleasure, happiness and well-being are not ends in themselves. The means to the ends are extremely important. The above are ideas likely necessary for dealing effectively with the art of living. When one makes full use of his ability, which is demonstrated, by choices, decisions and experiences that furthers growth and development, one is more likely to reach a fulfilling emotional state. Per David Bowie “It Ain’t Easy,” Einstein “Once You Stop Learning, You Start Dying,” and Epicurus “He Who Is Not Satisfied With A Little, Is Satisfied With Nothing.”

Reference: Fromm, Erich. Man for Himself. Henry Holt and Company. New York.