Aristotle & Happiness (Book 1)
Book One of Ethics begins with “Every rational activity aims at some end or good.” Aristotle goes on to explain that if we don’t have goals, then our day-to-day activity is pointless.
Of course, our perceptions of happiness differ. Some attribute it to ‘pleasure, money or eminence’ but this changes when they fall ill and happiness them becomes ‘health’. As Steve Jobs said, “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me.” But surely, there is some truth to all of these things. This is why my mentor Tai, one of the wisest people I know, holds that Happiness must equal = Health, Wealth and Love. Those four elements are the ingredients to the good life, eudaimonia. Aristotle later in the book states, “Happiness demands not only complete goodness but a complete life.” I would like to quote one of Tai Lopez’s most recited poems when it comes to the good life (happiness):
So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and Demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, Beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and Its purpose in the service of your people. — Chief Tecumseh
Before diving into his argument. Aristotle states, “Learning must start from beliefs that are accepted or at least familiar.” Bluntly, this meant we must have humility. The H Factor of Personality is vital on our quest to happiness, as it’s requisite for seeking knowledge. He quotes a poem:
The man is best who sees the truth himself; Good too is he who listens to wise counsel. But who is neither wise himself nor willing To ponder wisdom is not worth a straw. — Hesiod
“What is the Good for man? It must be the ultimate end or object of human life: something that is in itself completely satisfying. Happiness fits this description.” Happiness is undoubtedly the final end of all the things we search for, whether that be: health, wealth, love, drinking, sex, drugs, music, meditation, spirtitual journeys, partying, etc. Happiness is an end within itself because we choose it for itself and no other reason. When see seek, “Pleasure, intelligence and good qualities. We choose them partly for themselves; and also for the sake of our happiness.”
Quick detour based on the book Social by Matthew Lieberman. A key part to happiness is Love: friends, family and relationships. We are social beings, Aristotle says, “The perfect good is not self-sufficient, but something that includes parents, wife and children, friends and fellow-citizens in general; For man is by nature a social being.” Ever noticed how you might be hesitant to go to the gym, but get off your backside and do so when your friend is eager to go. Or how behind every great business is a good team, not some guy in a basement. There is a lot of power in the word ‘WE’.
Albeit, you cannot be given happiness on a silver spoon. Aristotle says, “When the outline has been satisfactorily drawn, it may be supposed that anybody can carry on the work and fill in the detail.” This alludes to the sculpture metaphor in which the master supplies only the overall design to the student. It is completely down to us to aggressively pursue Health: Harvard Professor Matthew Lieberman illustrated in his podcast with Tai, that this requires some basics like a good organic diet, sufficient exercise and the right amount sleep. Wealth: This requires a stoic mindset, in which you must day-by-day grind out your craft until you deserve what you want to be in your bank account. And Love: which can be achieved easiest when your Health & Wealth pillars are rooted, and you can work on the virtues that make the social aspect of your life as good as possible.
So how does one achieve happiness? Firstly, Aristotle makes clear one must act in accordance to Mother Nature. He states, “Lovers of beauty find pleasure in things that are pleasant by nature, and virtuous actions are of this kind.” Things in nature take time to form. The same applies to pursuing health, wealth and love. You will not look like Arnold Schwarzenegger after one gym session nor will you have a Bill Gates bank account after reading a few computer programming books nor will you form a loving family in 2 months. Aristotle directjy addresses the question on page 80, “How is happiness acquired?” The answer, “… Is acquired by moral goodness and be some kind of study or training.” He goes on to support this saying, “It’s better to win happiness by the means described than by chance.” Many of us follow a lottery ticket approach in which we hope we’ll just stumble across happiness and everything will be okay. But of course, most lottery ticket winners eventually become broke. Instead, the quest for happiness should be like building a sculpture. Day-by-day chiseling, sharpening and honing. As Will Durant said, “A nation is born stoic and dies epicurean.” We must embrace our pain to grow above it, because if we live to enjoy all of the little pleasures, we will surely fail. This is not to say we shouldn’t enjoy little pleasures, but there’ll be more on that in another discussion.
The common misconception Aristotle notes, is that we sometimes believe happiness comes in small spurts or perhaps at the end of our time. This is false. The happy man will always be happy because “He’ll spend most of his time in virtuous conduct and contemplation.” If everything you do, is in alignment with your search for genuine happiness – then you will be happy forever.
HOWEVER. It is not easy to find happiness. He notes, “Man has a principle – a rational element in their souls – which we commend, because it urges them in the right direction and encourages them to take the best course; but there is observable in them another element, by nature irrational, which struggles and strains against the rational.” This is analogously explained by Daniel Lieberman in his podcast when he alludes to our earliest ancestors. Homo Sapiens had to keep on the move, hunt and stay alert for survival. The opposite of this was to be static, have things laid on a plate and ‘chill by a fire.’ And by our biological make-up, we seek to preserve energy because producing it requires the breaking of food molecules, food was of course scarce to our ancestors. So inheritantly, we somewhat seek to be ‘lazy’ and reserve energy – – – our innate self does not want to go for 5AM jogs, it wants to be safe inside and watch Game of Thrones.
