The Big Question

What is Happiness?

It's a topic so thought about, so ingrained in who we are, that it was written into our constitution that we must pursue it along with life and liberty. So, what is it? Well according to Wikipedia, happiness is, "a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy". But then that inevitably leads to more questioning as to what is love, or satisfaction, or pleasure, etc. It's simple and to the point, yet it has perplexed many generations before us as to what is its proper answer truly is. And after all these years of philosophizing, pondering, wondering,and searching, what do we have to show for it? It is indeed written in the most important document in our country and we do like to casually throw the word around pretty frequently in our daily lives.

But before this blog in its entirety is dedicated to pursue happiness in life and literature, I feel obligated to express my feelings on the matter. I think that I'm setting out to do something impossible. Because I don't think happiness is anything. I think that it has 6.7 billion different definitions and explanations, for every single person on this planet has a different idea of happiness. And among the 6.7 billion people, we find happiness to be defined differently at any given moment of our lives. For what is happiness when we're 6 is different than what happiness is when we're 6.5, or 16, or 66. It depends on who we are and what we value in life in that given moment. It is as simple as sitting on a dock at sunset, or it can be flying on a private jet to a secluded island. It is tangible and intangible, spoken and silent, and we can acknowledge its presence or we can be blissfully unaware that it has touched us.

How many definitions of happiness does that add up to? Well, what is 6.7 billion times any one moment that any one being has ever lived? I don't know; I've never been good at math. But we can explore it and hope that it leads to better our understandings of ourselves and of life around us. I love this question because it doesn't have an answer. It can't have an answer. It won't ever have an answer. And really, isn't that the best kind?