Men

The Pursuit of Happiness

by Gary Farrell
05/29/16
Free to Share
Author requests article critique

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

As Memorial Day approaches I’m reminded of a sermon I listened to in church a couple of years ago where the pastor was berating the Declaration of Independence.  Which, as one who has placed himself in harm’s way in service to this country, I found sad.  He seemed to take special affront to these words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.  In particular with “Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

I would like to take a moment to set the record straight.  Our forefathers were not suggesting that people had the right to do anything they want as long as it makes them happy.  I’m sick and tired of certain people trying to convince everybody that our forefathers were secular, they were not.  Neither were they stupid, uneducated men.  These men did not think this way.  What did they consider happiness?  These men assumed doing what was righteous and virtuous resulted in happiness.  This excerpt is directly from the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 and affirms that: “The happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion and morality.  So, too, Article 3 of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 also affirms that “religion, morality, and knowledge” are “essential to the happiness of mankind."

John Locke was an English philosopher, whose political writings in particular paved the way for the both the French and American revolutions.   It is he that coined the phrase ‘pursuit of happiness,’ in his book “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”.   Thomas Jefferson plagiarized the phrase ‘pursuit of happiness’ from Locke’s essay and incorporated it into the Declaration of Independence.  What most people these days don’t understand, however, is that Locke’s concept of happiness was influenced by Greek philosophers, Aristotle and Epicurus in particular.  Far from simply equating ‘happiness’ with pleasure, property, or the satisfaction of desire, Locke distinguishes between ‘False’ happiness’ and ‘True happiness.’  Thus, in the passage where he coins the phrase ‘pursuit of happiness,’ Locke writes:  “The necessity of pursuing happiness is the foundation of liberty.  As therefore the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves that we mistake not false for true happiness is the necessary foundation of liberty.  The stronger ties we have to an unalterable ‘pursuit of happiness’ in general, which is our greatest good, and which, as such, our desires always follow, the more are we free from any necessary determination of our will to any particular action…”

More than anybody else, Aristotle promoted ‘True Happiness’ as a central purpose of human life and a goal in itself.  As a result he devoted more time to the topic of happiness than any thinker prior to the modern era.  Aristotle in a letter to Mencius (a Chinese philosopher steeped in Confucianism) defined that “Happiness depends on ourselves.” So it should be understood that the first thing Aristotle, and Epicurus before him, believed is that ‘True Happiness’ was dependent upon rational control over ones desires, not abandoning control to our instincts.  Let me list some instincts (besides hunger and sex) that drive human beings blindly sometimes madly: fear, anger, jealousy, envy, acquisition, rivalry, curiosity, imitation, reciprocity, and secrecy.  Instincts are a biological imperative.  They are something humans are born with as they appear in infants and children long before they could be imitations of adults.  Infants exhibit the same universal facial expressions and motor functions long before they could be learned behavior.  Instincts appear in other forms of animal lie almost exactly as they appear in humans, and their expressions among their species is universal.  One does not usually need to look long at an angry Pit Bull long to determine that it might just be angry.

True Happiness comes when a person exercises certain strengths that are so natural to them that they may not even consider them strengths.  I’m not talking about talent here.  There are numerous talents and strengths that humans can possess and be prideful about.  I’m talking about Character Strength and Virtue.  It is these that humanity considers to have the greatest universal value, or darn well should.  People that use those strengths and virtues for a purpose that is greater than their own personal (selfish) goals are the ones that pursue ‘True happiness’.   Due to New Speak (Political Correctness), and a morally bankrupt culture people may not understand what was considered virtuous when our forefathers penned ‘the pursuit of happiness’ so I will list some (this list is by no means complete or inclusive but should adequately define the concept): Accountability, Acceptance, Affection, Authenticity, Benevolence, Bravery, Commitment, Compassion, Courage, Courtesy, Dependability, Devotion, Discretion, Discipline, Empathy, Enthusiasm, Faith, Focus, Fortitude, Friendliness, Generosity, Grace, Honesty, Honor, Humility, Humor, Idealism, Integrity, Justice, Kindness, Love, Loyalty, Mercy, Moderation, Modesty, Obedience, Patience, Piety, Purity, Reliability, Respect, Restraint, Righteousness, Selflessness, Service, Sincerity, Sobriety, Strength, Temperance, Trust, Truthfulness, Understanding, Vitality, Wisdom and Zeal.

When Thomas Jefferson penned the words ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ in the Declaration of Independence as an unalienable right of human beings it was ‘True Happiness’ that he was referring to.  It was not the pursuit of wealth, fame, and self-importance which John Locke, and Aristotle and Epicurus before him, labeled as ‘False Happiness’.  It was by no means a suggestion that True Happiness could be achieved by abandonment of morality which has been the drumbeat our modern society has been marching to since the 60’s.  A pendulum swings so far then it must swing back.  Today in the ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ we have recently seen a dramatic upsurge in a scientific study called ‘Positive Psychology’ which is having a major impact on Psychology and Psychiatry currently.

Not all freedom is created equal. There are two different types of freedom: Liberty and License.  Liberty is the type of freedom our forefathers dreamed of and wrote of.  They defined liberty as: The ability to do what is good and proper.  It is the freedom to do that which is virtuous, and they believed, as do I, freedom is impaired when one is prevented from doing what is morally right.  License, by contrast, means the ability to do whatever one wants.  It is freedom ‘from’ any moral restraint whatever.  License is false freedom that leads to chaos, anarchy, and hell.  Yet our liberal society wants to promote moral license.  The idea that a person should be able to do and act however they please.  It is promoted in our modern society by an army of virulent and evil influences.  License was never the goal or objective of our forefathers.

This Memorial Day I will remember those brothers that have made the ultimate sacrifice defending the words of that Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America.  And I will affirm that there is not a single word in those documents of which I am ashamed, of which I would not die to defend to this very day.  This day in particular I will remember 58,000 of my brothers that made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam.  At the 93rd annual conference of the American Legion on Aug. 30, 2011, President Obama praised the Vietnam War veterans in the audience for their service and achievements.  He said, "You, our Vietnam veterans, did not always receive the respect that you deserved — which was a national shame," Obama said. "But let it be remembered that you won every major battle of that war. Every single one."  I don’t think we need a reminder that we never lost a single fight, but that a U.S. President actually admitted it.  I thought it a national shame when President Jimmy Carter stated that those men that had fled to Canada to avoid the draft were the true heroes of the Vietnam War when he granted them full pardon.