How to find happiness? Good question. A few responses:
Smackdown! Homer (Simpson) vs. Aristotle: What Does it Mean to Be Happy?
Aristotle’s conception of the good life in a nutshell is: (pleasure + honour [in political/social spheres] + contemplation) x excellence [virtue]
Thomas Hurka on Pleasure – some pleasures are more equal than others
The Happiness Machine – much like the above
June 20, 2009 at 10:24 am
The sensation of happiness is a product of brain chemistry. It is a reward mechanism, and as such is transient, not perpetual. The extended absence of such chemical stimuli is a form of ’starvation’, called misery.
Because happiness is by it’s nature and biological purpose fleeting, a compulsive pursuit of the happiness sensation can be deemed a form of addiction to biochemicals.
Serene contentment is far superior to happiness, because it is not dependent on the emission of what is after all a limited supply of neurotransmitters. Rather, it is a state of chemical stability, an absence of the ups and downs arising from glandular secretions of hormones into the endocrine system.