Over the long eons of written history, philosophers had much to say about life and happiness, each having a different approach. Some of those approaches became vast schools of thought, developing and branching into other ways of living one's life. Some say that happiness is in the pleasures of life, others say that happiness comes from within, and some argue that kindness to others is the primary source of human happiness. So what's the right approach? The truth is that each person has a different school, and today you will discover what philosophy you should consider on your path to happiness.
When it comes to happiness, you...
Make it your goal at all cost
Let it come by itself while I'm busy
During a holiday, what is the one attraction you wouldn't be able to pass up ?
Rest holds the most attraction for me
Which of the following animals represents the concept of "happiness" for you?
When someone you love died, how do you handle it? (Or how do you think you would handle it?)
I accept it, minimize my pain and try to do simple pleasurable things to lift myself up
Accept that this is the nature of things for all of us
How would you make another person happy?
Help them fulfill their dreams
Help them get a more objective view of things
Help them with the problems that most concern them
When do you love your home the most?
When I come back to it after a long time away
When I get to change or redesign it
Which of the following can make you say "I'm happy now"?
Receiving a big and prestigious award
Sleeping after a good day of doing what needed to be done
Going up a high mountain and watching the sunset
Which of the following situations sounds most enjoyable to you?
Laughing to tears from a private joke among friends
Seeing a place I've never seen before
Being alone for a day without worrying about anything
What does a typical work day look (or looked) like for you?
Walking around among my colleagues, having a lot of conversations and even doing some work
Do the best job I can, but only what I consider to be essential work
Pour myself into my work and find meaning in it
Pick your favorite color combination.
How would you prefer to spend your day off?
Having a nice walk in nature or enjoying friends and family
In doing something that will advance me towards my goals
Resting from the worries of the week
Which guidebook would you rather read?
How to identify and grow exotic spices
How to become the person your loved ones need you to be
How to find your true self
You found a wallet with an ID inside it on the street. What do you do?
Take the money and leave the wallet
Take the wallet to the nearest police station
Wrestle with a decision depending on my personal ideals
Epicureanism
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus.
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In this philosophy, pleasure is the main good in life. This is not to be confused with hedonism, as Epicureanism believes in living a modest life, full of modest pleasures. An overindulgence in extravagant pleasures is a path to pain, the source of all evil in this philosophy.
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In this philosophy, one acts to live a moderate, natural life that places more emphasis on pleasures of mind and of enjoying each other, rather than the purely physical trappings of excess.
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As such, Epicurus believed that for happiness, good social relations and friends must be maintained, an avoidance of overindulgence in physical pleasures and a minimization of all things that cause one pain. Everything is judged by merits of pain or pleasure to you. Justice, for example, is good only because it is good for the community, and it is bad if it is not.
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BC.
Stoics believe that the path to happiness is found in accepting moments as they present themselves while not allowing ourselves to be controlled by our innate desires for pleasure or our innate fear of pain.
By using our minds to understand the world and taking part in nature's or God's plan and by working together and treating others with the utmost fairness and justice, stoics believe that "virtue is the only good." Stoics do not consider external things such as wealth, pleasure or health as bad or good things, only as much as you can use them as tools to achieve wisdom, justice and most importantly - virtue - a moral code you do not abandon.
Existentialism
Existentialism is a form of philosophy that explores the problem of human existence and centers on the lived experience of the thinking, feeling, acting individual.
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In other words, an existentialist starts their journey in the world from a point of anxiety, or "the existential angst". They are born to a world that is chaotic, with no inherent human virtues, no meaning beyond this world and our physical relations with it. There is a sense of dread, disorientation, or anxiety in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.
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This may sound terrible, but it is in this absurdism existentialists find their freedom. Since there is no meaning beyond what we think or feel, and no rules to the world around us, one's life is spent 'becoming' - finding your OWN meaning, your own virtues by self exploration.
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This cannot be done without true freedom from traditional thinking (even if the conclusion is that traditional values are best). One must yoke one's mind and actions from the tracks of traditions and outside influences and make new, unique tracks of their own in the world, a world understood only through the lenses of each individual.
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For you, this means finding your own, singular path to happiness, based not what you were taught, but what you ARE.
Shai K.
6/17/2021
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