The Case Against Happiness

Joy is an awesome feeling, but you can't chase it. (Vol. 4; Issue 34)

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” -Bobby McFerrin

Despite the enjoyment felt from this catchy 1988 song, it is pure fantasy. Such imaginary hopes elicit a rather aggressive rant against the Positive Psychology movement. Martin Seligman (2002), borrowing the phrase from Abraham Maslow (1943/2022), poetically proposes that the program:

takes you through the countryside of pleasure and gratification, up into the high country of strength and virtue, and finally to the peaks of lasting fulfillment: meaning and purpose.

I strongly object, reject, and otherwise despise that first part: the “countryside of pleasure…”* It’s the seductive sound of it that irks, the suggestion that happiness can be sought. Virtue, meaning, and purpose are great. We humans should aim for such goals. But “pleasure” or, to gently defile** Seligman’s book title, Authentic Happiness, cannot and should not be pursued. It creates pressure running counter to joy. We can seek fulfillment; we can seek meaning; we can seek love. But our emotional worlds are always in flux, and that includes happiness.

Before continuing my argument, I feel compelled to proclaim that I—like any breathing human being—eagerly await feelings of joy, happiness, amusement, glee, elation, ecstasy, euphoria, and bliss. How could anyone not? The trouble lies in setting it as a goal. You cannot make happiness happen. It happens.

That being noted, Positive Psychology, or similar happiness movements, need a course correction. My critique begins with some obvious ideas about human subjectivity, transitions into a Taoist concept, and concludes with Jacques Lacan’s (1969) idea of jouissance. You will easily understand the first two ideas; if you continue reading into Lacan’s thinking, you’re either intellectually curious, masochistic, or both.

It takes no sophistication to understand that self-reflection involves capturing a moment that’s already in the past. If you’re having a spectacular Saturday evening with friends, and you think to yourself, “Wow, I’m really happy,” the joy will dissipate. If it doesn’t vanish immediately, it will soon. Problems arise when reflecting, chasing, or clinging to the wonderful emotional state.

Moods flow more like oceans than rivers. They rise and fall; they drift in waves. According the neurologist Antonio Damasio (2000), we humans are always in a state of emotion: We may feel happy, sad, envious, annoyed, tranquil, or something. Unless in a deep coma or dead, we humans are emotional beings. And, those emotions unfold over time, ever changing, never static.

Chasing happiness translates into its opposite. You cannot always feel happy. Vigilance for it will destroy it. That’s what’s wrong with any “happiness movement.” But, again, searching for meaning and fulfillment works. These states increase the chances for happiness, but, because they are not emotions themselves, striving for, or finding them, is great.