Understanding Eudaimonia
We all have friends who always seem to be happy. Recently I was talking to them about some work I’d done that received some very detailed criticism. I was frustrated that they didn’t like it after all the effort and care I put into it. One of my friends looked at me and said, with that warm smile of hers, that “at least the person cared enough to spend the time to help you make it better”. I thought, man, what an excellent way to look at the situation. I felt like a whiny 4-year-old compared to her.
Another one of my friends recently went on a trip to the Philippines. It was his first time in the country, and when he came back, I asked him what he remembered most about the trip. He said “the people”. If you don’t know much about the Philippines, it’s a beautiful country. Unfortunately, poverty is rampant, and the wage gap is wide. You’ll find vast expanses of shanty towns or squatter areas just a few meters away from the Manila’s most luxurious establishments. Even then, my friend talked about how surprised he was to see all the smiling faces and warm welcomes he received even in the most challenging parts of town. Living on a daily budget of under $2 per day would be difficult for anyone. However, some people do and still can share joy with others.
So, how do they do it? How can they always seem so happy, positive, or hopeful?
I’ve always believed that our perception dictates our lives. Meaning any situation can be good or bad, depending on how we choose to see it. Like finding the silver lining in any cloud. An example might be seeing impulsion as spontaneity, intimidation as assertiveness, or stubborn as determined. When it comes to our perception, it’s determined by our mindset.
But when I’m going through tough times, like losing a big deal, breaking up with my girlfriend, or living on a diet of instant ramen and crackers in university, am I happy? According to perception, I should be able to choose. Retrospectively I can look back and reflect on how each of these situations ended up being a positive experience but at the time… I didn’t feel all that good.
When I needed some wisdom, so I do what I always did and turned to my go-to — the Ancient Greeks. It turns out; they didn’t believe that the purpose of life was to be happy. Well, GG. They suggested that maybe it was to achieve something called “Eudaimonia”, a word that’s been roughly translated to ‘fulfilment’.
Understanding Eudaimonia
Eudaimonia comes from two Greek words:
Eu-: good
Daimon: soul or “self.” This one’s a little more challenging to translate into English.
You might be thinking — what’s the difference between happiness and fulfilment? According to the Greeks, it’s pain. They argue that it is possible to be fulfilled and at the same time: be under pressure, suffering physically or mentally, feel overburdened and, be in a bad mood. This is what the word happiness doesn’t quite capture; it’s difficult to imagine being happy but unhappy or happy but suffering. This is where Eudaimonia comes in since it takes these opposing ideas and marries them.
This word encourages us to trust that a lot of life’s most worthwhile ventures will come with contentment and suffering. Managing a household, keeping a relationship going, creating a new business or engaging in politic… None of these goals will have us cheerful and smiling every day. They will, without doubt, however, throw us challenges that will exhaust us, drain us, provoke us, and hurt us. And yet we will perhaps, at the end of our lives, still feel that the tasks were worth the struggle. And through them, we may have gained something bigger than happiness.
Happiness
Emotion
Temporary
Measured by pleasure
Can be achieved by immoral means
Connected with luck
Eudaimonia
State of being
Ongoing
Measured by excellence
Can only be achieved by living a moral life
Connected with effort
The thing I love about the word Eudaimonia is that it reframes our mindset. Compared to seeking happiness, seeking Eudaimonia stops us from aiming for a pain-free life.
Put, it means achieving the best conditions possible for a human being, in every sense–not only happiness, but also virtue, morality, and a meaningful life. It was the goal of philosophy to become better people — to help us fulfil our unique potential as human beings. Aristotle loved this idea and wrote about it more than any Greek philosopher, from Socrates, the father of Greek philosophy, through to the Stoics, which was a late-Greek philosophy.
How do we achieve Eudaimonia?
Aristotle says that the answer is simple: we need to work hard and push to succeed at whatever tasks nature and circumstances presents to you.
I found this pretty interesting since, in translations of Greek works, the word “Eudaimonia” is usually translated as “happiness.” But as we’ve discovered, there’s a lot more to this concept than happiness.
The English word “happy” has an interesting origin, very different from the roots of Eudaimonia. “Happy” comes from the Norse word happ, which means fortune or luck. It’s connected with:
- Happenstance
- Hapless
- Perhaps
- I just happened to see him.
All these words have something to do with random happenings/fortune / or luck. Essentially “happiness” originally meant something close to “fortunate.” But Eudaimonia has nothing to do with luck. Whether you have great luck or terrible luck, Eudaimonia works the same way: you need to work hard to become a better person and excel in your day-to-day activities. Fate might decide what your job is, what problems come your way, or where you live, but it has nothing to do with becoming the best person you can be.
Strive for Eudaimonia, instead of happiness.
“Happiness” is an emotion, whereas Eudaimonia is a state of mind.
Happiness is something that a person could create or lose at any moment, while Eudaimonia takes effort to build and stays with you.
For some people, happiness can be gotten through simple pleasures, like eating, or by immoral means, like stealing. Eudaimonia includes being a good person and doesn’t come from pleasure, although it leads to it.
It turns out it wasn’t just the smile on my friend’s face or her positive outlook that made her so admirable. She could share this with me and urge me forward, even when I couldn’t find a reason to smile or be optimistic.
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