Are You a Happy Person?

Not long ago I went to the doctor for my annual wellness check-up. My primary care physician requires me to see him once a year in order to have my prescriptions renewed. Although the medical community has played a huge role in my life—replacing a couple of heart valves, surgery for cancer, and transplanting a couple of corneas—I would much rather go to a ball game, read a book, or watch the grass grow than spend time in a doctor’s office. Even so, I begrudgingly drove myself to my appointment and checked-in for my annual visit.

I didn’t have to wait long before I was escorted into a small exam room where I waited another few minutes for the physician’s assistant. I usually don’t see the doctor unless I’m having a problem and, thankfully, this year the only problem I’m aware of is I’m one year older, which really isn’t a problem considering the alternative.

A professionally dressed young woman entered the exam room and sat in a chair opposite mine. She looked to be between 13 and 15 years of age, but I assumed she had completed her medical training. She took my blood pressure, temperature, and listened to my heart with a stethoscope. Then she sat back down and placed a clipboard on her lap and told me that she was going to ask me a series of questions about my overall health.

She began, “How do you feel today?”

“Fine,” I said.

She continued with the rather mundane questions for several minutes until she came to one that intrigued me: “Do you consider yourself a happy person?” she asked.

“Hmm,” I replied. “That depends on what you mean by happy.”

A concerned expression crossed her face and she lowered her voice, “Are you depressed? Is that why it is difficult for you to answer?”

“No,” I said, “I just think the word happiness can mean different things to different people.”

The teen-aged looking PA wrote something down on her clipboard, paused for a few moments, and then continued with the questions. “Are you sure you’re not depressed?”

“Only when I have to visit the doctor’s office,” I teased. She didn’t smile.

When the wellness physical ended shortly afterwards, the PA told me that if, in the future, I found myself depressed to be sure and let the doctor’s office know. I guess my hesitancy to answer whether I was happy raised some concerns. I assured her that the only time I get depressed, apart from my yearly exam, was when my favorite football team loses—which was happening more often these days!

I can understand why the PA was concerned about whether I was happy. Happiness has been a topic of interest for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks had a term for what we understand as happiness, “eudaimonia.” Its definition implied wellness of soul or being, much like the Hebrew term “Shalom,” which can be translated as “wholeness of life.” Aristotle wrote over 300 years before Jesus that eudaimonia was a state of being, not a feeling or an emotion. For Aristotle, happiness was reserved for healthy, wealthy, and free people. Slaves or sick people or the extremely poor could not be happy, at least according to Aristotle.

The Greek philosophers believed that happiness was a trait that some people acquired over time. It was something one achieved after a lifetime of work. In fact, one could not be said to be truly happy until one was dead. Before then, something could always go wrong and destroy one’s happiness—like running out of money in retirement!

Happiness, though, for Aristotle, was the goal of life. To have a sense of well-being was the greatest of all achievements that one could attain. Amusements, like going to the theater or buying a beautiful new chariot or villa, were fun and invigorating, but they served as a means to an end and not an end in themselves. Acquisitions such as wealth, status, or power might temporarily provide an emotional high, but the feeling would eventually fade, leaving one unfulfilled. Even a virtuous and moral life were means to an end and not the final goal. Virtue went a long way toward becoming happy, and without virtue, so the Greeks thought, happiness would remain elusive.

The word happiness did not enter the English lexicon until the 1400s, but the idea or understanding of happiness had changed quite a bit since Aristotle. Influenced by the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament, the concept of happiness had been reworked, so to speak, and significantly democratized.    

No longer was happiness reserved only for healthy, wealthy and free citizens but could be achieved by anyone, even the poor and the sick. Words like “blessed,” “joy,” or “peace” became synonyms for the Greek word happy to stress that happiness has a divine connection. The close association of virtue with well-being was still largely preserved, but now the idea of happiness encompassed right relationships with God and others. Apart from being involved in a healthy community, lasting happiness could not be achieved

The New Testament writers, contrary to Aristotle, suggested that happiness was no longer contingent on outward circumstances, like health or wealth, but could be achieved through virtuous living and harmonious relationships. A brief snapshot of happiness is found in Acts 2 where the early church met in community, shared their possessions with the less fortunate, and  broke bread “with glad and sincere hearts” (Act 2: 45-46). The image is one of happiness, well-being of soul for rich and poor alike.

Centuries later, in the Declaration of Independence, the pursuit of happiness was viewed as a natural right, foundational to civic virtue. Obviously, the Framers of the Constitution were reaching back to Greek antiquity that happiness should be the goal of life, but were also influenced by the Judeo-Christian ethic that happiness could not be achieved without virtuous living and community.  

Soon, the understanding of what it means to be happy would undergo another change. Adam Smith’s monumental book The Wealth of Nations advocated free trade and a competitive market system, which lifted millions of people out of poverty, and promised the opportunity for every citizen to attain happiness. In sync with the ancient Greeks and the teachings of Jesus, happiness, in Smith’s model, could not be separated from virtue and healthy relationships. Without virtue and community, society would break down and happiness, that is, well-being of soul would become the casualty.

It didn’t take long, however, for human greed to exploit capitalism to the advantage of some and the disadvantage of others. Happiness became linked to materialism. Only by getting what you want or acquiring more and more could a person be happy. Consumerism replaced virtue and meaningful relationships as the means to happiness. Ethical and moral considerations fell by the wayside.

Having become intoxicated by unrestrained capitalism, many in the Western culture believe that only those who get what they want can be happy. We are inundated with advertisements that promise a better life if only we accumulate the latest fashions or the bigger home or the most advanced technology. These things become ends in themselves, artificial ends, mind you, for their allure is temporary and before long our cravings for more become addictions. The more we get, the more we want, and the lust for more never ends. Our lives become empty with only an illusion of happiness that never fulfills our innate sense for wellness of being. Even more troubling, an unfettered craving for more leads to nihilism, where everything becomes meaningless, even life itself.  

Wellness of soul can’t be found by indulging ourselves with more things. Lasting happiness, that is, being blessed, knowing joy and peace is not something that can be bought. We acquire happiness through virtue and harmonious life with God and others.

So, do you consider yourself a happy person?