What does pursuit of happiness mean

The cover displayed a naked couple locked in fond embrace a great stereotype of the Epicurean life, and probably why the issue sold out. Yet the cover story, which was devoted entirely to the life and thought of Epicurus, sang a different tune. I teach Asian philosophy, and I was astonished by the parallels between Buddha and Epicurus.

Apparently, Epicurus did not teach in a lavishly funded Academy. Instead he conversed with his students in a cozy, well-tended garden. Far from it. Jefferson sez: If a McMansion makes you happy, then pursue it!

What makes one person happy — picking flowers on a sunny day, perhaps — may make another person decidedly unhappy. Happy people have strong social relationships. That will mean being wrong sometimes, but we have to experience this in order to learn how to get it right, and then get happier.

While the right to the pursuit of happiness may not be stated outright in the Constitution, the Supreme Court has, and continues to recognize this right, and to protect the many freedoms it encompasses. Even more broadly, the United States is not alone in recognizing a legal right to happiness. The phrase gives three examples of the unalienable rights which the Declaration says have been given to all humans by their creator, and which governments are created to protect.

These protections allow Americans to more easily live happy, free, and productive lives. The constitution describes each of the roles and responsibilities of the arms of the government and citizens while the Bill of rights describes the rights and freedom of the people.

The constitution limits the power of the government while the Bill of Rights grants authority to the people. The Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments to the U. After two centuries of industrialization, in the midst of our always-on entertainment and constant distractions, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that our agrarian founding fathers were in touch with life enough to be aware of what it means to be human.

They were aware of what constituted freedom and its opposite. They were aware of what constituted happiness and what constituted misery. The fact that they did not extend the values of egalitarian brotherhood to all peoples is a testament to their failures — but it is unwise to dismiss the wisdom in what is perhaps their greatest success. The valuing of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness is the valuing of humanity; the valuing of humility; the valuing of harmony. Humanity is the collective human experience, the aspect of being a human being.

To value humanity is to value being human more than abstractions, more than money, fame, or power. To value humanity is to value the reality of our lives, our liberties, and our pursuit of happiness, complete with its ups and downs; twists and turns. Humility is the groundedness of our existence, the balancing of the highs with the lows of life.

To value humility is to value the ground on which we stand just as much as the stars above. To value humility is to value the frailty and limitations of our human existence, valuing our fumbles, flaws, and failures as essential parts of the great play of life.

Harmony is the cooperative coming together of life in action. The continuation speaks of effecting people's safety and happiness. But the clearest explanation might be the Virginia Convention's Declaration of Rights, which dates to June 12, , just a few weeks before July 4. The Virginia Declaration actually speaks of the "pursuing and obtaining" of happiness. Seeking happiness is one thing but actually obtaining it and experiencing it — practicing happiness!

It's the difference between dreaming and reality. Remember that the pursuit of happiness, in the Declaration, is not a quest or a pastime , but "an unalienable right.

To use a metaphor: You don't just get the chance to make the baseball team, you are guaranteed a spot. That's a very different understanding. The next part of the sentence in the Declaration of Independence states "to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. In the Declaration, "the pursuit of happiness" is listed with the other "unalienable rights" of "life" and "liberty.

You are either alive or dead, free or enslaved. Governments have something to say about those states by how they govern their citizens. If happiness is akin to life and liberty —as the Declaration and the original meaning of "the pursuit of happiness" say — then we are not dealing with momentary pleasurable sensations "I'm happy the sun came out this afternoon" but with deep and extended qualities of life the happiness one feels to be cancer-free, for instance.

According to the Declaration, the extended quality of happiness — what we might call the good or flourishing life — is or should be a primary concern of government. That means it isn't just about my happiness, especially idiosyncratically defined, but about all citizens' happiness.

If the founders' understanding of the "pursuit of happiness" does, indeed, have "profound public policy ramifications, and thus real connections to social justice," what are some specific examples of actions the government does or should take to secure that right today? If we operate with a thick definition of happiness, then we have to think beyond simplistic understandings of happiness — as important as those are — and think about the good life more broadly.

It may be that the American Dream, if that is parsed as lots of money and the like, isn't a sufficient definition of the good life or true happiness. It may, in fact, be detrimental. Empirical research in happiness has shown that more money does not, in fact, make a significant difference in someone's happiness.

The ultra-rich are not any happier than the average middle-class person and sometimes to the contrary. So, moving beyond just the hedonic aspects of happiness, researchers have demonstrated the importance of positive emotions, positive individual traits e. Governments could and should, according to the Declaration enable such things.