In the Free World— At Principle Gallery, Alexandria
Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.
–George Orwell, Critical Essays (1946)
I wonder how our perception of the word happiness has changed over the ages, from the 4th century BC when Aristotle first described it as an activity of the soul that expresses virtue to the time of the American Revolution when the phrase Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was forever enshrined in the Declaration of Independence until now.
Is the definition of happiness from our Declaration stating that citizens should be free to live a life without oppression that would lead them to some sort of fulfillment the same as it is today? Is the fulfillment that brought happiness to the ordinary citizen then the same as today?
I don’t know.
It seems like the word happiness has become somewhat trivial these days, that it is happiness with a lower-case h rather than the capitalized Happiness.
Maybe there is a difference in those two, happiness and Happiness. Maybe the happiness we feel laughing at a joke with friends or playing with a pet is vastly different than the Happiness of going to bed without worries or fears?
I don’t know.
I do know that we are living in a time when moments of lower-case happiness are easier to find than that larger feeling of upper-case Happiness we are supposedly free to pursue. With American troops prowling the streets of American cities under false pretenses and growing legions of masked government agents on our streets who are free to whisk anyone away without due process or accountability, with a kakistocracy in place led by a maniacal billionaire that seeks to severely punish political opponents and strip away many of the rights we have come to expect, it is hard to see how anyone could find true Happiness at the present.
Maybe for now, we have to lean on that lower-case happiness to get us through to the time when Happiness can again be freely pursued by all.
Hoping you find some bits of happiness today. Here’s a song that always makes me happy. It’s Oh Happy Day from the Edwin Hawkins Singers from back in 1969. The fact that it is basically a religious song and I am not a religious person does lessen my happiness in hearing this song. Maybe that is because this is a song about Happiness and not happiness?
I don’t know…
Redtree Times 
Is it Noun (Happiness) or feeling (happiness)? We’ve all been asked at one time or another, “What would make us happy?” and the answer would most likely differ between us but I think Happiness … the “Noun” or perhaps as you mentioned the word that could encompass the emotion or feeling for more than just oneself. Perhaps the happiness from the American Declaration of Independence should have been written with a capital H so that the pursuit included the welfare of the whole. Like you said, I’m not sure but feel if we all strived more for Happiness with self as part of a whole … neighbourhood, society, state, country or world than maybe … just maybe … the word would be the same no matter how you write. Pure Joy.
Happiness as a Whole makes sense because individual happiness pursued at the expense of others cannot be real happiness.
An alternative to hear … JUDY GARLAND AND BARBRA STREISAND – Happy Days Are Here Again
Thanks– always loved this great performance! I look forward to the day when I can play that for us all.
When is the next general election? When will greed and those in power with that word tattooed on their minds and hearts (if they have the latter) be left aside for mankind’s sake? Then let the Happiness part start.