Friday, January 30, 2015
Happiness comes with requirements
The happiest people in the world are the richest ones. Or are they? Summing up this week's notes and readings, it appears that Aristotle has his own ideological meaning to happiness. In his teachings, it is stated that "Happiness is an activity of the soul in accord with the soul's proper excellence or virtue." I can agree with that, the more we care for our soul, the happier we are, for as a Christian, I have experienced that. Later on however, it is stated that if you are poor or suffer greatly in life, you cannot be happy. That is the part I cannot share acceptance with, Being happy does not mean being rich or wealthy. It is absurd to state that you have to be wealthy or rich to be happy, in fact, some of the richest people are the most unhappy in life. And saying that in order to be happy you HAVE to have wealth, is a complete misconception. Personally I have met people with a very low economic status and the happiest, and Vise Versa I have met some of the richest and most miserable people in my life. I want to convey two main points, that 1) as a Christian I can reject that statement and prove that all you really need to be happy, is God. Not religion, not money, not people, but simply God. I have from a young age learned what these great philosophers failed to recognize or address, that there is a Living God and that he is the only one who can truly and fully satisfy us; and 2) as a human being, I have lived life for quite some time and although I don't have the riches or have reached self-actualization, I can allege that I am happy with my life, because it's MY life. I have made it my very own, I have embraced it and lived it to the max I possibly could so far, and I wouldn't say i'm wealthy or even middle class. I have rose from the poorest of people and neighborhoods both in America and in Honduras, as well as had the opportunity to be in the middle class when I lived in California, and that is where I can build my purpose from, that is where my basis stands, on first hand experience. You can be poor and be the happiest person in the world, or have suffered greatly and become the happiest person, just like you can be rich and the most miserable being on the planet.
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I fully agree that you do not have to be rich or wealthy to be happy, and I think Aristotle would agree, since the people that are not happy with themselves or their wealth, probably have not lived a virtuous life. A couple days ago I would have agreed fully with your entire post, however, I do not think Aristotle was saying that you had to be rich or wealthy in possesions to be happy. I know when Dr. Johnson mentioned in class that if you were poor you couldn't be virtuous (at least not in generosity), I believe she meant that you first have to have something to lose. I first disagreed on the basis of the brothers lives, but even they gave up their past lives to work at CBU. I do believe they had something to lose, so they were not entirely poor. It is also possible that Aristotle isn't talking exclusively about earthly wealth. He could mean that you can only be happy if you are "wealthy" or "rich" in experiences/virtues. At the very least, he surely isn't saying that only rich people are healthy.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, Aristotle also pre-dated Jesus so religion, at least not Christianity, was less established when his philosophies were discussed. Philosophers simply try to understand people and their environment the best that they can. Obviously, there philosophies are not without flaw and generally lack proof, that is why there are so many different schools of thought. One thing I think that Aristotle didn't think about however, is that people can learn from each other. So to that extent, I do believe that you can be poor with "nothing" to give and still learn generosity from someone who has more than you. I guess Aristotle would need to define poor, because all people own their time and affections.
I completely agree with you. Money does not determines someone's happiness. Some people don't wake up everyday with a want to have wealth. It all depends on the individual. I am a strong believer that money cannot buy happiness because happiness is a feeling that can only be fulfilled when living a happy life based on that individual and what makes them happy.
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