Running Head: HAPPINESS JOURNAL

HAPPINESS JOURNAL

Name of the Student

Name of the University

Author’s note
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Happiness Journal

Happiness can be defined as a state of mind which drives in positivity through ones’

body and mind. It is also a crucial component to living a fulfilled life. However happiness is a

concept that over the years have been defined in numerous ways by several authors and

thinkers as the abstract component holds no rigid definition.

For instance, Margaret Cavendish in her work, “On Social Class and Happiness”,

Cavendish writes, “you were pleased in your last letter to tell me, that you had been in the

country, and that you did almost envy the peasants for living so merrily 1.” Here Cavendish

tries to convey in the idea that happiness is simplicity. Simple life brings in less fortune and

also adds less to burdens and that is the primary reason for the peasants living more merrily

and happily. In these lines, the happiness is synonymous to simplicity. Similarly, Voltaire in

“Candide” talks about cultivating one’s own gardens which portrays that happiness is an

inner feeling and cannot be expected of anyone else but oneself. However, Francis Bacon’s

New Atlantis speaks of a utopian world2 and this conveys that happiness is utopia or an

unattainable concept.

Since happiness seems to be an idea that lacks a concrete definition, many

enlightenment writers too put forward their approaches in regards to the same. Many even

had contradictory viewpoints to one another. For instance, Epicurus seemed to join the

notable philosopher Aristotle who stated that happiness was the ultimate goal of a human life

and the most notable good. However, Epicurus’ notion of happiness involved taking the road

of utmost pleasure while avoiding all pain which can be a little too utopian for the world we

live in. Happiness for him was not a simple joy of living but rather was a gleaming journey of

1
Margaret Cavendish Newcastle and James Fitzmaurice, “Margaret Cavendish: SociableLetters,” in Margaret
Cavendish: Sociable Letters (New York: Garland publ., 1997),pp. 120-122.

2
Francis Bacon, New Atlantis: a Work Unfinished (London: Printed by Tho. Newcomb, 1983).
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life without any hindrances3. Such an idea of Epicurus stands contradictory to that of

Rousseau, who laid down the approach that happiness is not a feeling constricted by a utopian

dream but rather a condition that could have been achieved under numerous circumstances.

He advocated that a prime reason for the unhappy lives of human was their primal need of

comparison which led to discontentment and misery in human lives 4. In a similar sense, he

also advocated that happiness was present in the simple and typically mundane pleasures of

life. His viewpoint stands in contrast to the one presented by Epicurus as Rousseau’s

approach includes finding happiness in struggles rather than a buttery journey of life.

However, it can prove to be quite tricky to decode the intellectual quotes provided by

philosophers and thinkers alike due to their application of “poetic license.” It can be written

with a different approach and interpreted in a different tone. For example the famous line by

Voltaire in Candide. “We must cultivate our garden 5,” has been interpreted in various forms

by numerous writers but upon my interpretation, the same translates into the garden

symbolizing our life and the tasks at hand while cultivating means to rise into action

regarding our life choices and the completion of our deeds. In totality, the same can be

viewed as the fact that in our lives we are hold the keys to our own happiness and cannot

depend on anyone. Therefore, we are take charge of our own life and get to work on

completing those deeds which brings us happiness and contentment. If we are to become the

holders of our own doings than the same cannot be dependent on anyone meaning no one will

have the power over us to disrupt the same. Therefore, the line by Voltaire can simply mean

taking charge of one’s own life and steering the same towards success.

Many thinkers, writers and philosophers over the years have developed their own

notion of the abstract feeling and many are usually in contrast to one another. However, that
3
Darrin M. McMahon, “Happiness: a History,” in Happiness: a History (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press,
2007), Chap 4.
4
Ibid
5
Voltaire and Butt, Candide, 1947, Penguin Books, p120.
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can be considered as the most beautiful attribute of happiness. The absence of the definitive

approach makes the notion all the more appealing and a feeling to be sought after.
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Bibliography

Bacon, Francis. New Atlantis: a Work Unfinished. London: Printed by Tho. Newcomb, 1983.

McMahon, Darrin M. Essay. In Happiness: a History. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press,

2007.

Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, and James Fitzmaurice. Essay. In Margaret Cavendish:

Sociable Letters, 120–22. New York: Garland publ., 1997.

Voltaire, and John Butt.Candide: or, Optimism. London: Penguin Books. 1947