The Pursuit of Happiness
by Absolute happiness can never be reached.
The desire to improve ones situation as a means for achieving “happiness” is also apparent in situations perceived by a bystander as self harm or worsening, such as suicide or self destruction. From the perspective of the individual committing suicide, death – at a certain point – seems to be better than his own life and he prefers to die. Many other suicidal individuals seek to achieve “happiness” through obtaining a goal – as the kamikaze pilots did in Japan during WWII and as suicide bombers do in Israel, Iraq (Suni vs. Shiites and vice versa), Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Sometimes we see people who we think are hurting themselves by overeating, anorexia, drug use, compulsive behavior, delinquent behavior, introversion, unacceptable conduct, etc. However, taking their perspective and based on the various motivating factors operating on them at a certain moment when they complete the specific action, they are doing something to take them to a better place, i.e. to that elusive and momentary point of “happiness”.
Suicide, as a manner of achieving a goal, is also prevalent in the animal kingdom; the mantis and black widow when mating; bees and ants when protecting their turf, and more. The desire to achieve an objective or satisfy a certain need and thus improve your situation, sometimes supersedes the desire to live, i.e. the desire to achieve happiness is greater than the desire to live.
All of the above demonstrates that all living creatures operate, from their own subjective point of view, toward improving their situation, each on the road to the desired and unattainable happiness. Many reach momentary happiness and euphoria, but they do not consistently maintain them. Some have more moments of happiness than others. Some are far from happiness while others are closer to it.
Although every living being is motivated by innate urges, such as the desire for existence and the need for procreation and, with humans, the need to fulfill a certain purpose, neither evolution nor the desire to pass on their gene pool have any importance in their subjective perspective. They are only interested in and motivated by the desire to achieve “happiness” by fulfilling their needs or aspirations.
Despite its elusiveness, our individual desire to achieve happiness is the factor that has led the world to where it is today and that will continue propelling us in the future as well.
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