The Pursuit of Happiness

After banishing Perpenna from Sicily and defeating Domitius at Carthage, the young Roman general Pompey returned to Rome and demanded the honor of a triumph. Sulla, the ruthless and aging Roman dictator at the time, declined and reminded Pompey that only magistrates were afforded such honors. At this Pompey pointed to the sky and boldly declared, "More people worship the rising than the setting sun." An astounded Sulla relented, and Pompey's ensuing triumph foretold the retirement of Sulla within the year.

Pompey used this analogy to illustrate his own popularity, but it may also be used to highlight the perspective of the human mind with regard to well-being and time. In part 1 we proposed that happiness is derived from the four life objectives—pleasure, love, respect, and longevity. In what way is it derived from these? Is happiness simply a sum of the current levels of these objectives? Or is it the highest (or average?) level attained in the past? Or is the expectation for the future that correlates most with happiness?

Close examination reveals that it is the rate of increase in the fulfillment of these objectives that bears closest to the mark. It is not merely the realization of pleasure, love, respect, and a long life that makes one happy—it is the progress of these pursuits to ever higher achievements that is necessary for a life of happiness. Hope—the expectation of a future better than the present—is a real and positive presence in our lives only if growth in the present makes this a rational and realizable expectation. Happiness is the conversion of hope into reality. A man who has the riches of a king but is crippled from advancing in all avenues of life is sadder than a man who has nothing but is capable of improvement. It is not the level of progress but the slope which matters.

Contentment is a paradox. We all strive for contentment, yet once it is found it is lost. No sooner do we achieve our most cherished goals than we start to conceive and work towards new ones.

Man differs from other animals in his ability to think and reason in abstract terms and in his capacity for long-term memory. Without long-term memory or the ability of foresight, a being is more inclined to derive happiness principally from pleasure, a short-term phenomenon. Memory and foresight enhance the value we place on self-respect and the love and respect of others. The favor of these over pleasure is both the curse and the blessing of being human. To the extent that we do not see beyond the range of the moment, we act in ways not much different from the beasts.

As children and adolescents we place an inordinate priority on the pleasure objective because our minds are still developing the powers of reason and foresight. The ability and tendency to think long-term is a sign of maturity. As children, we learn that the perpetuation of pleasure requires forethought and sacrifice. In order to eat a cookie, or receive a toy, or avoid a spanking, we must tend to chores or avoid showing disrespect or change some other behavior. Foresight initially is used to increase pleasure.

As we grow older, our self-awareness and self-identity awaken. As our personality defines itself, our uniqueness becomes more pronounced. This uniqueness requires love to appreciate and justify it. Foresight instructs us to build long and lasting relationships which will ensure a continual source of this love. Identity also causes development of a desire for distinction among others, a desire for respect. More so than love, the pursuit of respect leads us to build a life plan, and to set progressive goals for actualizing it.

The realization and acceptance of the concept of death is critical in the transformation of our priorities with regard to the four objectives. Before this realization, time has little meaning. The presence of the death constraint imposes urgency on life. Longevity is introduced as a goal, an objective to be pursued. Love and respect for our selves and the agents we create provide an opportunity to extend the consequence of our lives beyond our life span, something which is not possible in the case of pleasure. To the extent that the love and respect we gain are seen as permanent or enduring, we feel that when we die we live on in the hearts and minds of others. Longevity and the legacies which perpetuate it become the most far-sighted of our objectives.

To illustrate the importance of personal growth to happiness, consider the levels of our four objectives over the course of a typical human life (see attached graph). Pleasure in the long-term is relatively steady, rising slightly in our prime years (as we reach sexual maturity and an ability to appreciate refined tastes) and declining slightly as our sensory organs decline in health and acuity. Love oscillates sharply during our quest for a life partner, then increases with marriage, and perhaps again with loving children. Note that during the life partner search, relationship failures do not diminish the amount of love one attains prior to the relationship (from family, friends, etc.) but nevertheless are among the unhappiest times of people's lives. This reflects the fact that it is not the level of love which is important, but its change over time which is critical. For most people respect is a viable avenue to increase one's achievements continuously and thus acquire happiness. They may do this through a dedication to career, through service to others, or a variety of other ambitions. In all, it is personal growth which affords happiness, not the levels attained.

Adam Smith asserted "that it is in the progressive state, while the society is advancing to the further acquisition, rather than when it has acquired its full complement of riches, that the condition … of the great body of the people, seems to be the happiest and the most comfortable. It is hard in the stationary, and miserable in the declining state." Surveys of happiness in multiple countries have shown that while there is some correlation between

"rich" countries and happiness, countries where people have economic and political freedom are more correlated with happiness, as these are conducive to human growth. Wealth and riches are an inevitable product of these freedoms and thus are incidentally, not causally, correlated.

It is not that people are simply intent on achieving higher objectives because the higher the happier. There is an intrinsic value to the increase itself, to progression. Bill Gates, the world's richest man, is not satisfied with the respect this affords him. He must continue to grow to live a fulfilled life. Lottery winners, after an initial period of euphoria, end up less happy than the average man. Once they have internalized their new level of wealth, when they have become acclimated to an enriched lifestyle of pleasure (and respect of sorts), they must continue to grow.

Kings through the ages have never been content with a grand and flourishing empire; always have they attempted to gain more power, more respect, through war, conquest, or, if subjects were lucky, through cultural achievements. Even the most comfortable, the most loved, and the most respected among us do not remain content for long. It is only natural that we now and for ever want more, that we must grow.

"The Pursuit of Happiness" is the second of a four-part series, "What People Want."