What is the Height of Human Happiness - Essay Example

What is the Height of Human Happiness? What is happiness? This is one of the questions that has plagued philosophers throughout time. While many have proposed answers to this seemingly simple question, not many have agreed as to the solution. For example, Aristotle felt that the purest happiness could be found in nature through an understanding of the plants and animals that surround one but Augustine felt the purest happiness could only be experienced in heaven, and thus was only available during specific sublime moments awarded to the deserving as a promise of what was to come. Aristotle’s conception of happiness is largely outlined in The Parts of Animals, particularly Book 1. Augustine spells out his ideas in his Confessions, particularly in Book 9. Reading through these materials, I was able to compare and contrast these two philosophers’ ideas and begin thinking about how they either agreed or conflicted with my own concepts of happiness. To do this, I had to ensure I had a strong concept of what both Aristotle and Augustine were saying and identify those ideas that caused me to react in some way, whether because I strongly agreed or strongly disagreed with what was being said. In the end, the words of these philosophers helped me better identify my own thoughts. Aristotle’s Parts of Animals chapter 5 identifies happiness as one of those “ungenerated, imperishable and eternal” things that are “excellent beyond compare and divine, but less accessible to knowledge” (656). Since it’s easier for us to understand the material things that are around us, most of us choose to remain focused on this lower level of thought most of the time. However, when contemplating nature, Aristotle says, we can often come across something that will inspire us to think into the upper plain. “For if some have no graces to charm the sense, yet even these, by disclosing to intellectual perception the artistic spirit that designed them, give immense pleasure to all who can trace links of causation, and are inclined to philosophy (656-657). These thoughts are what will bring us the highest form of happiness because they bring us into a closer comprehension of the creator just like studying the particular strokes and quirks of the artist will often reveal much about the personality who created the painting. If we can attain the greatest happiness through this understanding or perception of the divine within the natural, then it follows that “we should venture on the study of every kind of animal without distaste; for each and all will reveal to us something natural and something beautiful” (657) and remain happy all the time. I found this passage quite inspiring because it suggests that happiness can be found anywhere someone is willing to stop and look around a little. It sounds like a lot of work to try to think on a higher plane as the only way to find true happiness. However, at the same time, Aristotle’s description indicates the way to do this is to stop trying to think at all and just to allow yourself to get lost in the natural beauty that is all around. The simple acknowledgement or finding of this beauty, or the contemplation of a lack of beauty, is all that is required to finding this higher level of happiness. I find this very inspiring because it suggests that we don’t have to work extra hard, go to special places or seek extra counsel to try to find happiness. It’s all around us all the time if we just take the time to stop and appreciate it. With a basic understanding of Aristotle, I turned my attention to Augustine’s writing. Augustine considers the highest attainable level of human happiness to be offered only through the heavenly realm. He couches his ideas in the form of a conversation. “The conversation led us towards the conclusion that the pleasure of the bodily senses, however delightful in the radiant light of this physical world, is seen by comparison with the life of eternity to be not even worth considering” (Ostia, 171). In Augustine’s description, the perception of this higher happiness is only fleeting at best. “We touched it in some small degree by a moment of total concentration of the heart” (Ostia, 171). This happiness cannot be touched by words because words are finite and limiting and happiness is eternal and cannot be contained in concepts such as past or future. While a good deal of this sounds much like the ideas of Aristotle with a few minor word changes, Augustine’s ideas transcend the crutch of the natural world to speak with God directly. “We would hear his word, not through the tongue of the flesh, nor through the voice of an angel, nor through the sound of thunder, nor through the obscurity of a symbolic utterance. Him who is these things we love we would hear in person without their mediation” (Ostia, 172). In addition, Augustine goes further than Aristotle in suggesting that happiness is our one goal in life. “We see then that happiness is something final and self-sufficient and the end of our actions” (Nicomachean Ethics, 15-16). Augustine seems to share many of the same concepts as Aristotle, such as the idea that true happiness is something that can only exist on a higher plane than the one we usually live on. He also agrees that it is something that is eternal, but adds the idea that perhaps happiness is the true goal of our lives. Through happiness, we achieve a new connection to the eternal, who he defines as God. While Aristotle offers the idea that this happiness can be touched through a complete contemplation of nature through the mind, Augustine suggests that this connection can be made directly through the heart. My understanding of these two philosophies is that they are very similar to one another. It seems as if Augustine’s ideas grew out of those of Aristotle. Thinking of myself, I know that whenever I need some cheering up, I look to nature to help myself out. Whether I’m looking up at the birds flying overhead or down at the ants crawling underfoot, Aristotle is right in that you can find beauty in everything natural or in contemplating its absence. Where I differ from Aristotle’s ideas is in how this happiness is attained. I think contemplating nature isn’t so much an activity of the mind as it is an activity of the heart with the concentration focused on beauty as a means of keeping the mind busy to allow other mental processes to function, what Augustine called the heart. Through this other sense rather than through anything material, we are able to gain a connection with what Aristotle called the creation, which is my preferred way of looking at things because it leaves things open to individual interpretation, or God, which is Augustine’s way of defining this higher plane. Having once achieved this connection, we continue to seek it through whatever means we think might help us get there. For those who realize how the connection was made, they continue working toward this spiritual happiness through spiritual means rather than material pursuits. This is what is meant in Augustine’s Ostia when the mother says “I see you despising this world’s success to become his servant” (172). I’m not sure about the servant part, but I know that by remaining true to what feels right in my heart as I stay connected with the natural world around me, I feel happy and good about myself and it’s hard not to agree with Augustine that happiness is our primary goal in life and the means by which we can do the greatest good. Read More