What’s the role of happiness in a life well-lived?  Is it a goal, a necessary consequence, or something incidental?  What does happiness consist of, anyway?  Is it an emotion, an attitude, a personality variable, a virtue, a way of living, or something else altogether?  Should happiness be actively sought after?    If one isn’t happy, is that necessarily a bad thing?  What makes one happy?  Do the same sorts of things lead to happiness in all of us, to the point that a science of happiness can be developed, or is happiness more of a free spirit, unknowable by formula or prescription?   Is it a permanent state of affairs, or something transient?  Does it depend on circumstances, or does it come from within?  How do we even know whether we are happy?  Do each of us experience happiness in the same way, or does the very form of happiness come to each of us in a way unlike how it visits our fellows—for one, ecstasy, for another, quiet contentment, and, for a third, the sure belief that one’s life is rightly ordered.

 

I am beginning this blog to ask these and other questions about happiness.  The occasion for launching the blog is the decision by the faculty of School of Arts and Humanities of Methodist University, where I teach, to select “Happiness” as the theme for our inaugural “Big Idea.”  We faculty members will be introducing the theme of happiness in our classes during the 2008-9 academic year, exploring with one another and with our students the nature of happiness and its role in our lives.  Though I will start by looking at the general theme of happiness, I expect to eventually blog about other topics related to our goals, dreams, and fears.