Ethics at CBU 10am

Happiness is defined as the state of well-being and contentment. Happy is derived from the old English word “hap” meaning to have good (or bad) fortune and “-y” having the quality of. Likewise, the word “happen” also has the same origins. I believe that happiness depends on what happens. I believe that we can never be happy for the sake of being happy. With that being said, I do believe that anyone can experience joy no matter their situation. Joy is defined as a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. Joy is happiness, but happiness is not joy. What I means by that is someone can be joyful even if nothing good seems to happen. Being “happy” is being content or “okay” with the outcome of something. Nowhere in the definition of joy do you see anything about contentment or having the satisfaction of something, because joy goes beyond that. Joy can (or not) include being content with something. Happiness happens only at the surface, but joy goes far beyond that. Abraham Lincoln once said, “People are just as happy as they make their minds to be.” What Lincoln is saying that happiness occurs in our mind, and ultimately we choose whether we want to be happy or not. However, Sai Baba said, “Joy needs no object; it is our own nature.” He is saying that joy does not need a cause, it is within in us and occurs whenever. According to Aristotle, poor people cannot be happy. I disagree with that. I believe that poor people can be happy and I believe that they can also experience joy. I do not believe that people can experience happiness for the sake of itself, but I do believe that anyone can experience or have joy for the sake of itself.