Jordan Peterson famously pooh-poohs the idea that happiness is a noble goal, a worthy, desirable goal, as well as being historically a key part of the American Founders view of the world when they talk of pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
My understanding of Jordan’s dismissal of seeking one’s happiness is based in his Buddhist outlook that life is suffering, and chasing after happiness is a vain, empty, ultimately unfulfilling goal, which shallow individualists and narcissists waste precious, irretrievable time—even years---looking for.
He has noted that one is lucky to be happy for whatever period of time, to just enjoy it, for it inevitably will not last.
I disagree with Jordan about happiness. Happiness is the most important moral goal there is if one defines happiness in a certain way.
My contention is that happiness is roughly synonymous with loving—oneself, others, humanity in some general way.
Whether one is egoistic and self-loving or seeking after one’s personal happiness, or is altruistic, self-denying and self-sacrificing in service to meeting first and foremost the happiness and interests of others over oneself, it really matters not that much. If one is loving, truly loving, then one may be more attracted to receiving a good divinity into one’s life, which redounds to greater happiness.
To be loving is to be or become happy, and it is a positive attitude writ large. One may have suffered a lot or a little, but suffering is but one’s past, and it will stifle one’s getting after a future of maverization, if one continues to be resentful, bitter, unhappy and obsessed with playing the victim because one has suffered in the past, and this way of looking at things is central to this resenter’s worldview.
To be unhappy is to hate the self, others, the higher power—existence and the world itself. Evil is unhappiness and unhappiness is evil.
Jordan has failed to discover that being happy, optimistic, grateful, l and kind are good, exemplified by one of good will, a positive attitude and of sterling character.
I was up at our lake cabin this weekend and I reread Easy To Kill by Agatha Christie. The character is describing Honoria Waynflete, the serial killer and here is the short quote: “Mrs. Humbleby said, ‘Honoria Waynflete, is I am sure a very wicked woman. Oh, I see you don’t believe me. No one believed Lavina Fullerton either. But we both felt it. She, I think, knew more than I did. Remember, Mr. Fitzwilliam, if a woman is not happy, she is capable of terrible things.”
Christie, the artists and novelist, intuited rightly that a sinner, unhappy and cruel, is capable of doing terrible things. To be permanently unhappy is to be actively an immoral person, and this is why the wise Dennis Prager often urged that each person has a moral duty to be happy.
From this point, I expand this line of thinking, the suffering, the reformed sinner, somewhat happy and of generous of spirit, as she grows in love, is capable of doing wonderful, beneficial things.
There is a podcaster and influencer, who refers to herself as Jess of the Shire; I watched one of her videos in which she points out that Tolkien repeatedly contrasts Fate versus personal free will in the life of his characters in fiction.
That these contradictory human conditions or attributes coexist and influence one another in the lives of each mortal sinner, is perhaps a most significant reality which the reader needs to take notice of.
Of course, if one suffers or has suffered—through no fault of one’s own—if overwhelming suffering has been one’s Fate, that immense suffering can make one unhappy and evil, if one succumbs to self-pitying and self-indulgence.
Jordan Peterson is correct in highlighting that there is often much we can do about what happened to us in the pass, except shoulder moral burden to make our suffering meaningful and noble. That is the negative truth about the human condition.
Here is the positive truth: I would add to this that we can just resolve to be as happy, loving and optimistic as we can muster where we have suffered a lot or a little, and if we cannot do anything about our lot except be happy and loving whether we are suffering a lot or relatively little, this choice to be loving feels us with God’s joy and presence, and that is love and happiness, real relief, real enjoyment.
To adopt a grateful, positive attitude is to spread joy and happiness ad be a force for good in the world and this stance must be freely chosen even though one may have suffered a lot previously.
To be happy is vital for not turning into a moral monster, Jordan Peterson.
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