“And sometimes when you’re on,/You’re really [flipping] on/
. . . But the lows are so extreme/That the good seems [flipping] cheap/And it
teases you for weeks in its absence/But you’ll fight and you’ll make it through/You’ll
fake it if you have to.” –Rilo Kiley
I know of no better description of the fruit of pursuing
episodic happiness and the tenacious, if not illogical, commitment that many of
us have to it. Yet despite our attachment to it, the modern notion of happiness
is rather novel.
Traditionally the great pagan and Christian thinkers alike
viewed happiness in terms of human flourishing. The word they often used to
describe this flourishing was eudaimonia
(εὐδαιμονία). This word has its roots in “wellness” and most writers
used it to describe the wellness that men experience when they live well. Plato
and Aristotle and their followers believed that eudaimonia was the fruit of virtue; Epicurus taught that human
fullness had to be pursued as a unity as men should not pursue one human good
at the expense of another. While these ancient schools of thought differed with
one another and with later Christian writers on a number of details, all agreed
that eudaimonia was not something
that could be pursued haphazardly or partially attained at the cost of other
goods.
Contrast
this notion with the view of happiness espoused by most contemporary Americans.
To begin with, instead of an idea of flourishing that is largely determined by their choices, most moderns tend to
conceive of happiness in relation to what happens to them. As a result, modern men believe that happiness can only be
found in the moment. This understanding produces an episodic view of happiness
wherein we either pass from a moment of happiness to another moment of
happiness or from a moment of happiness to a moment of sadness. If life is
nothing but a series of episodes, who wouldn’t want to maximize pleasure and
minimize pain? Wouldn’t the best life be one of uninterrupted happy moments?
While
pain can be used as a means to something good, it is not good in and of itself
and it is therefore not unethical to wish for a life of uninterrupted moments
of happiness. The problem with this view isn’t its morality, but its
practicality, for what it is ultimately asking for is uninterrupted good luck.
After all, what are good moments but moments of good health, spent in good
company, with plenty, and free from sorrow? In a world marred with sin these
things are intermittent at best and rarely under man’s control. It is folly of
the highest degree to rest our earthly hopes in things outside of our control.
Instead, like the ancients, we ought to return to a deeper notion of human
flourishing wherein we can play a part in our flourishing and find fulfillment
of purpose even in the midst of trial and tribulation.
Not
only does an episodic view of happiness produce an unattainable ideal, it
compels men to seek happiness in a way that is parasitic on other human goods.
In the 1960s Westerners began to pursue episodic happiness in a way they had
not done since pre-Christian times. Because they sought happiness in the moment
and in things outside of themselves, they turned to drugs and sexual
promiscuity in unprecedented numbers. Given their view of happiness this was no
surprise. Indeed, what is more in the moment than a narcotic high or a sexual
hookup?
The
problem with these pursuits, outside of their obvious immorality, is that they
prey upon other facets of the good life and thereby prevent men from flourishing.
For example, drug use undermines health—one can have a moment of euphoria,
which is a good, but only at the cost of another good like mental well-being or
respiratory integrity. Likewise, fornication can bring about a moment of bliss,
but at the cost of other human goods like a stable marriage where children are
welcomed and lovingly raised. For a man cannot dally about, indulging in the
variety that promiscuity offers without sacrificing a deeper and nobler love
that can only be enjoyed with one person after years of mutual support and
commitment. A life spent chasing moments of happiness can indeed yield moments
of happiness, but it can yield no more that moments of happiness for it
sacrifices deeper goods in its quest for immediate goods.
God,
however, has created us to enjoy so much more than momentary happiness. God has
so ordained things that we can have moments of pleasure and also live a
flourishing life. A man in a committed marriage will indeed enjoy moments of
sexual and romantic bliss, but unlike a philanderer a chaste man can have these
moments without sacrificing the security that commitment affords, the intimacy
that only a life lived in constant companionship can bring, and children that
are eagerly anticipated instead of anxiously avoided. In the same way, a man
that drinks moderately can enjoy the relaxation and ease of conversation that
accompany a good drink without sacrificing mental and physical health.
The
great secret, as C. S. Lewis asserted years ago, is that God is a hedonist at heart.
God tells us to say no to many things, but only that we may say yes to higher
and better things! God instructs us to say no to avarice and prodigality in
order that we may be able to say yes to generosity; He commands that we say no
to selfishness and self-centeredness so that we may say yes to love and
community. If we make higher things, God’s things, our goal our lives will
flourish and they will be filled with
moments of unexpected ecstasy and joy—the sight of a joyous sunset, the smell
of baking bread, a warm bath after a hard day’s work—but only if we seek the
Kingdom first, only then will all these things be added to our lives. If we
make these moments our central pursuit they will undoubtedly let us down, break
our hearts, and damn our souls.
Still
we need to eat and drink, work and rest; how do we enjoy moments of happiness
in the right way, at the right time, and to the right degree? This requires
wisdom and discernment. In order to enjoy things the right way we have to
understand our telos (τέλος); we have to know the purpose or goal for which we are created. We also
need to know the telos of the
activity or action in which we are engaging and in what way and to what degree
the telos of the act accords with our
ultimate telos.
“Man’s
chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” This is the plumb line
by which we should judge all our thoughts and acts. For example, say I am
considering signing my son up for little league. I first ask: what is the thing
for? It may be I want him to show off his athletic prowess; it may be that I
want him to learn teamwork and discipline. The former is inconsistent with his telos while the latter is not. That is
the first question I must consider. Yet as good as my intention may be, there may
arise a time wherein I have to choose between little league and family dinners
or little league and piano lessons. In that case I will need wisdom to judge
which is the higher or better of the pursuits; if they are equal, I need
discernment to ensure that the good that we are pursuing is not coming at the
cost of another good and thereby impeding human flourishing in a different area.
The
ancients were right in believing that we can have and should pursue eudaimonia, but without knowing man’s telos they could not fully and
consistently pursue it. We on the other hand think that technology has rendered
the pursuit of eudaimonia obsolete. It is true that technology has
provided us with the means to great health and comfort, speed of travel and
unquantifiable amounts of information, but as a result we have come to believe that
we can so arrange the world as to have all things at all times on our terms. We
have deceived ourselves into thinking that we can simultaneously have freedom
and commitment, radical individuality and community. After all, if we can send
a man to the moon why can’t we square the circles of man’s paradoxical desires?
Added to this we live much of our lives in unreality, passively observing the
scripted experiences and relationships of others in films, television shows,
and on various social media outlets. They move from happiness to happiness, why
can’t we? They are capable of pursuing seemingly incompatible goods, why can’t
we?
We
want things in a way we cannot possibly have them for men, made in the
unchangeable image of God, have an immutable nature. We can have true happiness,
but true happiness is a product of flourishing, a flourishing that can only be
recognized in light of our telos and
the various teloi of the things we do
and pursue. Seeking happiness apart from virtue is like setting an apple on a
countertop and leisurely eating it. It may produce momentary delight, but it
will never satisfy the appetite of a man. Instead, a man must clear and till
his ground, plant seeds, tend the saplings and over time he will find he has a
number of apples as well as shade and beauty in his garden.
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