“I just want to be happy,” is a phrase we’ve all used, or at least heard someone use at some point in our lives. Close your eyes and picture a time when you were truly happy. Not just momentarily elated, but feeling an indescribable sense of joy and contentment. In other words, everything is right in the world. Try to recall: what made that period of your life so truly happy? Was it money? Perhaps it was being liked? I had one such happy moment during my senior year of high school. I had just earned the big lead role in the musical I auditioned for, won the title of Prom Queen, and started a new relationship. Everything just felt right in the world.
Countless studies in psychology have been conducted on the topic of happiness. People want to know how to be the happiest they can be. Although the number of ‘happy’ individuals in the United States appears to be decreasing exponentially, this idea of happiness is not a new one.
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle focused heavily on happiness in his Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle called this “eudemonia” and said that “happiness is manifestly something final and self-sufficient, being the end of all things which are and may be done.” Moreover, every worldview involves some sort of search for happiness. We see efforts to achieve happiness or bliss in Buddhist meditation and manifestation; while New Age followers tend towards crystals and horoscopes for contentment. In modern times people often assume happiness is achieved by personal gain, whether through wealth, lifestyle, or other worldly pleasures.
We see these assumptions reflected in much of modern media and music. We don’t have to search through cryptic messages for this concept to be obvious. Kyle Homues, in his song not so subtly titled “Happy” sings, “I just wanna be happy, Make a little living that’ll last me… Is that too much to ask”. We see this happiness-entitled attitude also reflected in other songs such as in AJR’s popular song entitled “Karma” in which they sing: “I’ve been so good, I’ve been helpful and friendly, I’ve been so good, why am I feeling empty?, I’ve been so good, where…is the karma?”
The same messaging is presented more subtlely in Dolly Parton’s hit song “9-5”: “Workin’ nine to five, what a way to make a livin’, Barely gettin’ by, it’s all takin’ and no givin’, They just use your mind and they never give you credit, It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it.” Although these lyrics all seem quite normal and harmless at first, it is important to acknowledge the subconscious messages portrayed through them. Phrases like “Is that too much to ask,” “where is the karma,” and “It’s all taking and no giving” almost seem to portray a sense of entitlement towards happiness. It’s almost as if people assume that to be happy is natural, and to not be happy is wrong – or even someone’s fault. The same is true in the entertainment industry.
In the 2013 film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the protagonist, Walter Mitty, is a boring man who leads a boring life. One day, on the verge of losing his job, Walter embarks on an adventure to save his job, ultimately finding happiness and changing his life forever. The obvious point of this movie is that happiness is what makes life enjoyable and interesting. Even harmless little trends in our society portray this need for and entitled attitude towards happiness. For example, a trend that has gained traction recently is the ‘little treat’ mentality, which justifies the thought process of rewarding yourself with a ‘little treat’ after any task, no matter how small. All of these examples show the desired, expected, or even ‘deserved’ mentality our culture has about happiness.
But if this generation is so focused on the pursuit of happiness, why are we the most depressed generation to exist? Why does this quest for joy seem to be an impossible mission? (Cue Mission Impossible theme song). A study done by the American Psychology Association found that “this generation is…significantly more likely (27 percent) than other generations, including millennials (15 percent) and Gen Xers (13 percent), to report their mental health as fair or poor.”
Perhaps we are just deprived of the things that would make us truly happy, like fame, money, or even sexual freedom. Are people who have those things happy? Well, if you go online any given day, you’ll likely see some headline about a celebrity fallen into drug use or caught in some scandal. On top of this, many celebrities speak of how unsatisfying fame is, such as Jim Carrey who said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.” So it would appear that the pursuit of fame does not bring lasting happiness.
What about money? Picture this: The businessman, trying to climb the ladder of success, fails to take care of his family and winds up divorced, sad, and alone with kids who won’t talk to him. This typical trope seen all the time in movies is unfortunately often true, so it can’t be that money alone that brings the kind of happiness we long for. The suicide, abuse, self-harm, and depression rates of those who identify as LGBTQ+ are significantly higher than those who do not identify as such, so it can’t be that sexual ‘freedom’ brings lasting happiness. There are countless other temporary pleasures or happiness that we could go through to emphasize this point, but the result remains the same. No matter how much one pursues these things that should make someone ‘happy,’ they fail to receive what was promised.
Aristotle would claim to have an answer here, saying that happiness can be found in moderation and that people are failing to find happiness because they have too much or too little of any given thing. Although Aristotle was correct in assessing that virtue and moderation can bring contentment, they still give no real reason for true happiness.
But is it all hopeless? Is happiness simply a façade, or an evolutionary perk? At this point, I think it’s important to make a clear definition between three words commonly interchanged nowadays that have distinctly different meanings: pleasure, happiness, and joy. Pleasure is a physical sensation experienced through the release of hormones, and other bodily functions. Happiness is a result of pleasure. Happiness is a fleeting feeling that by nature cannot last forever. Joy is an inexplicable contentment and peace felt not only when things are going great, but also amid great grief and pain. Any of these worldly pursuits can bring pleasure and/or happiness. But I believe that what people are really searching for is joy.
So many overlook the difference between happiness and joy, and try to fill their lives with pleasure. This pleasure can bring happiness, but as soon as something goes wrong, they wonder why they aren’t happy, or what they did to ‘deserve’ this. It’s not that the things that make people happy are inherently bad, but rather that the pursuit of them above all other things always seems to cause pain. So, if joy is what we strive after, how do we achieve it? How do we maintain it? It’s already been established that pleasure alone can’t take you there. Moderation can take you part of the way there, but what if there was something greater – something that brought meaning and peace that could last even when there is no happiness?
This is where God comes in. Not even talking specifically about the God of Christianity at this point, doesn’t it make sense that if there is a creator out there he would desire for us to be happy, and he would give us a way to achieve joy? If this isn’t the case, why is it that people who live by Christian or even just ‘religious’ values report such drastically higher levels of happiness?
What about relationships? The APA says that loneliness was linked to “adverse health consequences including depression, poor sleep quality, impaired executive function, accelerated cognitive decline, poor cardiovascular function and impaired immunity at every stage of life.” They also “found that social isolation increases the risk of premature death from every cause for every race.” Why do friendships make us happy and content, and even improve our physical health? And why is it that helping others makes you feel so good? Studies show that people who follow biblical principles within marriage report higher satisfaction levels in their marriage, and also in their sex life.
Multiple studies also report that people who attend “religious activities” regularly are generally happier in life. Are these things simply evolutionarily advantageous? I suppose the argument could be made that marriage is evolutionarily advantageous (although I would think the evolutionary advantageous thing to do would be to have as many children with as many different people as you could to preserve your bloodline). But I cannot see any reason it would be evolutionarily advantageous to desire to help others. If happiness was a trick of evaluation I would think that the most animal desires would bring us the most happiness, but this is simply not the case.
So far we have established that everyone has a desire for deep happiness. We have shown that worldly pleasures can’t bring this happiness and that it doesn’t make sense in a purely naturalistic world. I would argue then, that God is not only the best explanation for our desire for joy, but also that this desire itself proves the existence of God.
The profound joy people are able to find in the midst of the darkest situations would be utterly foolish if there was no purpose to their suffering or reason behind their joy. Now close your eyes again and go back to that happy time in your life. Perhaps you are in one now. But every happy moment ends. The curtain on the show closed, the relationship ended, and soon prom was a thing of the past. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the assurance that you can get to a place and be in the presence of someone who could provide joy for eternity?
Bibliography
“The Project Gutenberg eBook of the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, by Aristotle.” n.d. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8438/8438-h/8438-h.htm.
Bethune, Sophie. n.d. “Gen Z More Likely to Report Mental Health Concerns.” Https://Www.Apa.Org. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/01/gen-z.
Novotney, Amy. n.d. “The Risks of Social Isolation.” Https://Www.Apa.Org. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/05/ce-corner-isolation#:~:text=%22Lacking%20encouragement%20from%20family%20or,also%20augment%20depression%20or%20anxiety.%22.
