What is Happiness?

First, we need to see the meaning of the root word, happy.

 

Happy - adjective

1. feeling or showing pleasure or contentment.

2. having a sense of confidence in or satisfaction with (a person, arrangement, or situation).

3. fortunate and convenient.

4. inclined to use a specified thing excessively or at random.

 

The origin of happy comes from Middle English happy (“fortunate, happy”), perhaps an alteration of Middle English happyn, happen (“fortunate, happy”), possibly related to or from Old Norse heppinn (“fortunate, happy”); and potentially assimilated to be equivalent to hap (“chance, luck, fortune”) +‎ -y.

 

This would imply that to be happy requires certain things to happen, usually good things, or at least in our favor. The other implication is happiness is based on luck. If things happen the way you want or expect, then you can experience happiness. If this is true, how can you explain happy people who have experienced tragedy or loss? This is certainly not based on happenings. Is their feeling or state of being something other than happiness? Or is there more to happiness than just a set of circumstances?

 

Let’s look at a couple of other words which may be mistaken for happiness. Consider joy:

 

Joy - noun

1. a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

2. a thing that causes joy.

 

The origin of joy comes from Middle English: from Old French joie, based on Latin gaudium, from gaudere ‘rejoice’. This seems to imply something that comes from within. Look at rejoice:

 

Rejoice - verb

1. feel or show great joy or delight.

 

It seems to me these words have a common meaning. The difference is in what an observer might attribute as to the origin of the feelings. “Of course, they are happy. Everything always goes their way.” “They were born with money.” “They never seem to have problems.”

 

What about these alternatives? “In spite of the problems, they seem to always have a smile on their face.” “He seems to always have a song in his heart.” “Nothing ever gets them down.”

 

Can both of these be happiness? It seems happiness is usually the word chosen for someone who seems overtly joyous. Its definition includes the word “showing”, whereas joy is described only as a “feeling”. Perhaps the only difference is in the temperament of the person being observed. One is expressive and the other is not, but both have the same sense of wellbeing.

 

In the Sermon on the Mount, one of the most famous talks given by Jesus while He walked on earth, opens with what is now called The Beatitudes. Each one describes various aspects of human existence, stating “Blessed are the …” The word used for “blessed” is also translated as “happy” in other places. Look at the meaning of this Greek word:

 

makários ("blessed") describes a believer in enviable ("fortunate") position from receiving God's provisions (favor) – which (literally) extend ("make long, large") His grace (benefits). This happens with receiving (obeying) the Lord's inbirthings of faith. Hence, faith (pístis) and (makários) are closely associated (Ro 4:5-7,14:22,23; Rev 14:12,13). (taken from BibleHub.com)

 

If you acknowledge God’s influence on human existence, then it is easy to see the origin of both happiness and joy as being from the same source. I like the word “inbirthings” used here. It says to me that every person has the ability to experience happiness/joy because it is placed in them from the beginning. If this is true, then why do we not experience this state more consistently? It is possible this is where the “happenings” come into play.

 

Even though we are born with this innate happiness/joy, life events can cause us to suppress this natural tendency by overwhelming us with weighty concern or burdens, like grief over the loss of life/relationships, trauma from accidents/abuse, or simply poor life choices. It can become difficult to ever find a place of happiness/joy again. However, because it is “inbirthed” it is still possible.

 

That’s the focus of my current writing project. I’m looking forward to finding the last chapter of this book. It has yet to be written …