The Meaning of Happiness

(Extracted from Education for Creative Living: Ideas and Proposals of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi)

Happiness is such a common and familiar term that it would seem to need no explanation. Still, upon closer examination, we find that people hold many different views as to what happiness is and what is meant by happiness. If happiness is to serve as a basis for determining the purpose and aims of education, it will be necessary to develop a more precise definition of what we mean by happiness.

Trying to explain happiness with words or idealistic philosophical conceptions would likely cause misunderstanding, since happiness is based in a person's experience rather than in theory. Thus, since happiness is something that we experience in our daily lives, a few actual examples of happiness will be more effective than wordy explanations. In order to better understand the concept of happiness, we will examine its antithesis, unhappiness, and cite a few commonly held misconceptions in an effort to better delineate its general contours.

It may be appropriate to ask first if there is an ideal or purpose in life other than happiness. If so, it likely is based on an understanding of the concept of happiness different from mine or it may mistake an element or component of happiness for the whole. The word happiness can be interpreted in a variety of ways, depending on the experience of each individual. It is difficult to come to a common definition. Some persons might regard great monetary wealth as happiness and be satisfied; others may feel happiest with a high position or status in society. Many other examples could be listed, but they all stem from incomplete understanding of the concept of happiness.

I was once asked by a distinguished scholar if the entire goal of a person’s life could be explained by such a simple word as happiness. Clearly he did not think so. But if we conclude that the word happiness is not satisfactory, is there any other suitable word to take its place? Other goals may seem to exist for humankind, but it is difficult to find a goal more encompassing than happiness. Some people may resist accepting happiness as the purpose of education because they consider it a selfish, personal goal, but as we examine it rationally as a social phenomenon in the following sections, we will find a broader definition of happiness that is a responsible goal of life.

Thus, one realisation that emerges from our consideration of happiness is that those persons who opt for some single sense of meaning in their lives, whether it be accumulation of wealth, achieving high social position, or something else, have confused the part for the whole, and in so doing have settled for something less than total well-being. Such choices can be attributed to an arrested development in forming a conception of happiness, a fixation upon some particular aspect of life to the exclusion of other equally vital human possibilities. This phenomenon leads us to see that we are talking about happiness not as a fixed mark to be achieved but as a sense of becoming. It is this dynamic, growthful nature of happiness that most concerns us educators. For implicit in the pragmatic orientation of education “for living, of living, and by living” is the understanding of both living and learning as process.

Our understanding of happiness has been enhanced in recent years by the development of the discipline of sociology. Kant was opposed to making happiness the purpose of education. However, I believe that he would have thought differently had sociology been developed at that time. Kant’s concept of happiness does not include a societal element. Prior to the development of sociology by Auguste Comte, society was not an object of cognition and hence was not taken into consideration by Kant.

With the new conceptual tools provided by the discipline of sociology, we can now, for example, more clearly distinguish between subjective and objective elements present in happiness as commonly conceived of by the members of a society. The very same environmental factors, that is to say, objective conditions, may yield two entirely different reactions from two persons or even from the same person on different occasions; one set of circumstances will one time bring happiness, and unhappiness another. Moreover, we are all well aware that people may show every outward sign of well-being, much to the envy of all around them, and still regard themselves as unfulfilled and unhappy. Or again, the opposite situation may hold true. Thus, it is obvious that there are at least two sides to this question of happiness.

If we further break down the objective element into individual and societal requirements for happiness, we find that although neither can wholly exclude the other, the latter is particularly important. True happiness is not to be had completely on one’s own terms. We do not live alone. Directly or indirectly, the social environment impinges upon the individual, and any friction is bound to cancel out the seeming advantages of insisting on having things our own way. Instead of mere self-seeking, we must bear in mind that individual well-being entails co-operative and contributive existence within society if it is to last any length of time. Our lives will always be tied in with those of others. To ignore this is to fall into a narrow egoism. Such extreme subjectivity has no place in deciding the meaning of happiness, especially not as the purpose of our children’s education.

We cannot shut ourselves off from the concerns of the community. Even wealth cannot buy total isolation except at an inhuman cost. High walls and security guards to protect the most beautiful mansion might make carefree living possible for a while, but one day we would have to wake up to the mean and narrow-minded person we had become. Where is our happiness then? True happiness comes only through sharing in the trials and successes of other persons and of our community. Hence it is essential that any true conception of happiness contain the promise of full commitment to the life of the society.