Happiness

"Ultimately, what do you think people want?"
"Fame, fortune, a spouse, kids?"
"Beyond that"
"To make their mark on the world?"
"Search deeper, these are all things. Why do they want these things? What drives them?"
"Grandkids? Great grand kids?"
"Come on be serious."
"Sex? They want to pass on their genes and live on forever through them?"
"Under what circumstances would you want to live on forever?"
"If its fun?"
"Happiness."
"Happiness?"
"People want to be happy"
"Oh. I thought there was actually a point to this discussion. Thats trivial. Of course everyone wants to be happy. Why wouldn't you?"
"Would you want to be happy?"
"Of course, that's a silly question. Are you saying that you don't want to be happy?"
"Not in the sense that most people do."
"Oh I see you just want to be different and special"
"Perhaps, but think about it. What would you do if you were really truly happy? Maybe this means that you have a steady job which you enjoy, you're contributing to societal development, you have a loving family, and life is good overall. Then what would you do?"
"Uh...I don't know, sit back and enjoy my perfect life?"
"But wouldn't that be boring?"
"If I was actually happy, that would mean that it wasn't boring right?"
"Sort of. I don't think it would be boring for most people, because most people in that situation are content and happy. But if I were in that situation, I'd be bored."
"Why?"
"Its difficult to explain. It would feel...stagnant. I wouldn't be satisfied with just living a "happy" life like that, I would need something more, I would want to do something more."
"No one is ever truly satisfied, everyone wants more, even if they're happy. If I had a million dollars, I'd want 10 million instead. But you have to make do with what you have, and be happy with the life you live in order to make the most of it."
"Not more in that sense. "
"In what sense then, pray tell."
"Lets say that your 'great life' is defined by a bunch of quantifiable things. If you put all of those things into a bag, 'more' would be what's outside the bag. It doesn't matter then how big or small the things in your bag are - whether it is $1 million or $10 million, its still money."
"Well what about the unquantifiable things?"
"Unquantifiable things are tricky to talk about because you can't compare them. But lets say you have a set of unquantifiable feelings that are part of your life - love, hate, anger, fear, passion... if those were all part of my life, I would work toward exploring the feelings that aren't in that set. Maybe feelings that no one has ever experienced before. A typical person's 'happy life' may not have hate or fear, but I think my life would have to have them."
"Is it really possible to just summarize someone's life into a bag? If someone said that to me I might be offended. It seems like you're trying to trivialize other people's lives in order to feel special."
"I'm not sure that its really possible. Whether it is possible or not, though, I would want to find out. My way of trying to find out is to start putting things in the bag. The goal isn't to offend people, or their life decisions. The goal is to try and make the best ones for my 'happiness'."
"So you only care about your happiness?"
"Well, if you were to put all the things that contributed to my happiness in a bag, then I would by definition want to do the things outside the bag. So arguably, no. Besides, its possible that one of the things that's in the bag is altruism."
"But if you characterize your happiness only in order to move away from it, aren't you fighting for a lost cause?"
"Good point."