Aristotle and Mandela on happiness and meaning

And optimism.

"Happiness [said Aristotle] comes from expressing what we have rationally decided is good for us over the longer term. Happiness is not pleasure, but a by-product of a meaningful life." Tom Butler-Bowdon

“I always knew that someday I would once again feel the grass under my feet and walk in the sunshine as a free man. I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed towards the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair.”

And that was Nelson Mandela, whose meaningful life will continue to be a source of human happiness.

Up@dawn 2.0

Happiness in Time

Time magazine's cover story asks if we're having fun yet? And, why not?!

All human beings may come equipped with the pursuit-of-happiness impulse — the urge to find lusher land just over the hill, fatter buffalo in the next valley — but it’s Americans who have codified the idea, written it into the Declaration of Independence and made it a central mandate of the national character. American happiness would never be about savor-the-moment contentment. That way lay the reflective café culture of the Old World — fine for Europe, not for Jamestown. Our happiness would be bred, instead, of an almost adolescent restlessness, an itch to do the Next Big Thing. The terms of the deal the founders offered are not easy: there’s no guarantee that we’ll actually achieve happiness, but we can go after it in almost any way we choose. All by itself, that freedom ought to bring us joy, but the more cramped, distracted, maddeningly kinetic nature of the modern world has made it harder than ever. Somehow there must be a way to thread that needle, to reconcile the contradictions between our pioneer impulses and our contemporary selves...

The Happiness of Pursuit | TIME.com

(MORE: See Instagram images of joy from around the world and take our happiness poll here.)

Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/06/27/the-happiness-of-pursuit/#ixzz2XVjJrBAY

(READ:  Jon Meacham on what Thomas Jefferson meant by the pursuit of happiness)

Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/06/27/the-happiness-of-pursuit/#ixzz2XVjOXHwU

Are happy people crazy?

No, but it makes me happy to think about unhappy diagnosticians who think so.

"It is proposed that happiness be classified as a psychiatric disorder and be included in future editions of the major diagnostic manuals under the new name: major affective disorder, pleasant type. In a review of the relevant literature it is shown that happiness is statistically abnormal, consists of a discrete cluster of symptoms, is associated with a range of cognitive abnormalities, and probably reflects the abnormal functioning of the central nervous system. One possible objection to this proposal remains--that happiness is not negatively valued. However, this objection is dismissed as scientifically irrelevant..."

A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder.

Real happiness

In 1999 Shelby Foote responded to an interviewer's question about where he found the inspiration and motivation to write his compendious multi-volume Civil War history, on top of five novels (and a teahouse).

"People say, My God, I can’t believe that you really worked that hard for twenty years. How in God’s name did you do it? Well, obviously I did it because I enjoyed it. I don’t deserve any credit for working hard. I was doing what I wanted to do. Shakespeare said it best: “The labor we delight in physics pain.” There’s no better feeling in the world than to lay your head on the pillow at night looking forward to getting up in the morning and returning to that desk. That’s real happiness."

Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 158, Shelby Foote