John Stuart Mill: The Paradox Of Happiness

The Paradox of Happiness

John Stuart Mill writes in a publication in the 1800s about the subject of happiness. John is a philosopher who is trying to say in this quote that happiness is a byproduct of what we strive to achieve in our lives everyday, whether that be doing what’s right in our mind or just having fun partaking in one of our hobbies. Many have pondered this question and have come up with varying conclusions. Some believe that a state of happiness is a choice, when it in fact it is more complex than that. In order to achieve happiness however, we must be indirect about it as happiness cannot be a conscious feeling, and in order to achieve it in the first place, we need to pursue things other than our own happiness to become happy. (Brink 89)

First off, happiness has always been seen as a factor that is solely dependent on ourselves. In reality however, the world around you and the people within in it are a big factor in whether or not we have an inner peace or not. Mill agrees: “Those only are happy (I thought) who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind…” (Brink 89), focusing on objects or things other than ourselves yields more happiness for us in the long run.

Inconsequentially, it also makes us naturally better people to strive for happiness as we seek to help one another out.
Another aspect to our sense of happiness is its tendency to disappear.

You may or may not have noticed this before, but when one observes the fact that they are happy, the feeling is instantly gone. "Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so," (Brink) Mill says. This self questioning of our own happiness often only gives us a sense of despair, and this is because simply asking this question is a type of insecurity. It is a norm in society to be as happy as everyone else, so although the people around us may seek to help us out, they are laying on more pressure. If we were all to ignore the subject of happiness, us as a whole society could become a much happier society.

(McMahon)
Some have argued that happiness can be obtained through external means, it is something you can physically grasp. Let’s think about that for a moment, by generalizing a few situations where one might gain some happiness. You go and by a new car, house, or whatever possession you crave most in your life right now. Or maybe even ‘better,’ you could be trying out that one drug that all of your friends have been into because of how it makes them feel afterwards. You take the plunge, and just for a moment you might feel a rush of happiness from what you just brought or what you just took, but afterwards it all comes crashing down on you. Happiness can be triggered by lots of things, but it’s only a false sense of it that is very fleeting and might just make you feel worse afterwards.
In the end, happiness is just one of the complex emotions we experience as humans that we may never be able to fully understand. It is a compilation of what we love to do most combined with that making the ones we care most about happy as well. At least that is what happiness is to me, it could very well be a much different experience for you. One thing is for certain though, we cannot simply buy our way into happiness. No material object has the capacity to make us happy in the long run. The path to happiness may never be clear, but by following our dreams and supporting our comrades we may find ourselves full of it.