HAPPINESS:

“Happiness- Is it a Birthright?”

?

By Oliver Harper, MA, MS, MAL, MAP, NCC, LPC

?

Thomas Jefferson espoused in the Declaration of Independence that happiness is an inalienable right and indigenous endowment is warranted for all citizens. This expectation is a striving for most of humanity.

?

Seneca the ancient Stoic states that there can be “no happiness without constancy and prudence” How as individuals do we navigate this natural right to be happy? Stoicism, demands having Stoic dogmata principles that support the sorting of phantasiai, which are sense impressions that emanate from within and without.

?

Happiness, therefore, within the philosophy of stoicism is a byproduct of virtuous choices but to harness it as a virtue requires an incorruptible and indestructible ability to discipline oneself through a regimen of practical knowledge and reasoning. Not an easy task for the faint of heart or the impressionable mind. The cultivated inner forces developed is a refuge for the stoic against the ubiquitous unsorted sense impressions that can torpedo the virtuous pursuit of happiness. Happiness is an affirmative state in which our lives have both meaning and pleasure.

?

Can the common woman be happy? Is happiness a possibility for the practicing stoic or must we advance to the level of a Sage to be happy? Happiness in the worldview of Stoicism is deemed a pattern of life, a style of being, and an existential trajectory that betrays the universal implications of Thomas Jefferson’s constitutional decree. Marcus Aurelius’ sees it as a distinctive set of disciplines that transforms the stoic “into another life” where the individual inner discourse, insights, and patterns of being are unified.

?

?

Seneca in his wisdom maintains that human happiness is founded on wisdom and virtue. The former being: “that right understanding, a faculty of discerning good from evil, what is to be chosen and what to reject, right judgment and the latter, that perfect good which is a compliment of a happy life, the only immortal thing that belongs to immortality, the knowledge both of others and itself, an invisible greatness of mind, not to elevated not dejected with good or fortune.”

?

These attributes are not stumbled on but acquired through a resolute mind disciplined in thought and deed, deeds done not because of ostentation or public opinion but of conscience. Happiness cannot be outsourced and when lived on one’s own terms may constitute the good life. It’s an inner construct that you bring to your world rather than what you received from it.

?

The ancient text of Proverbs, states that “wisdom is the principal thing” and we need to get it, which suggests that when we live consistent with our values and deliberate before deciding we can make choices that resonate with the sound reason. In Stoicism, wisdom is the sine qua non for happiness because it is an internal operational paradigm that governs the faculties with constancy and prudence and manifested without passion but with reasoned deliberations and congruity of actions.

?

In the pursuit of happiness of our inalienable right to happiness, it seems that a philosophy of life is mandated, an operational lifestyle that depends less on external things while incorporating wisdom and virtue as foundational tenets to guide us to a fuller expression of ourselves as we navigate life’s obstacles and sense impressions. A philosophy of life is a serum against the infectious implications of life’s unintended consequences. A way of living from the inside-out rather than outside-in; more like a thermostat than a thermometer. Happiness demands an aim; a target to pursue so that with each progressive step towards that goal opens up and activates dopaminergic pathways in the brain that arouse happy emotions. Happiness is the journey.

?

Personally, I share the view that virtue and wisdom can place you on a path toward happiness. Each day, as I row gently down the stream of life, I indulge in rituals at dawn and at dusks that comfort and guide me to affirm and accept life’s beauties and infirmities. I have come to learn that my happiness is 100% my responsibility and enjoying its momentary experiences will be contingent on my choices.

?

Happiness ultimately is probable for us all if we are willing to employ our faculties to navigate the minefield of self-imposed obstacles armed with a practical philosophy of stoicism.