I’ve written a lot of things here that could come off as negative, or could make someone come to a realization that makes them disappointed in some way. I’ve periodically been asked if I’m ever happy (Usually by people that disagree with everything I say, but I digress). Someone smarter asked me if being happy is even rational. Until that question, I had no intention of writing something like this but now, clearly, I am.
The question was pretty simple, but when I began to think about it, I began thinking “Wow, no. Being happy isn’t the most rational thing one could be.” but that didn’t seem right at all. That made me unhappy!
Abraham Lincoln was a reasonable man, but you don't see him grinnin' like an idiot!
Some of you may be wondering at this point “Why did you think being happy wasn’t rational?”. To begin, you must realize being happy is a chemical state of mind. The only difference between pain, happiness, and drug induced feelings are amounts and types of chemicals. Sure, a drug that causes absurd levels of “happy” may be seen as over-doing it, but what if you took just enough of it to equal the level of say, eating a delicious cake or seeing someone you care about for the first time in months, it becomes an equal thing, though with the drug you don’t require complicated things or relationships.
Another problem is that there are many instances where one person’s happiness imposes on another’s, likely causing social harm of some sort. The rare but obvious example would be someone that takes pleasure in killing, though there are more common examples like bullies and con artists.
In order to come to any kind of decision on this that was rational, I had to first separate the two concepts into “Socially Negative Happiness” and “Socially Positive Happiness”. I realized there was one other, however, “Socially Neutral Happiness”, under which the likes of drugs would often (but not always) fall. Socially Positive Happiness is, as the name implies, the good kind. The problem here was that I had separated the different types and found “the most rational” one, but how rational was it? Technically, you were still giving into desires, and you might not even be aware of how rational of a choice it was until after the event!
Happiness isn’t intended to fit in the category of “rational”, but it isn’t “irrational” either. It’s the reward for making rationally pleasing decisions. The implications of this are important, though. You can lead a fantastic life by developing a great personal philosophy. Sure, you could be happy without one, but you run the risk of doing harm to others and likely even to yourself down the road. If you’re doing something you find fun but something seems not right, give it some thought! Sure, you may come to the conclusion that it’s not Socially Positive Happiness, but there are countless other things you could be doing that qualify as such. Get out there and do them!
