The Thoughts of We

Happiness is a mental state; it’s an objective, real-world goal. Happiness is nothing more than the result of having the proper personal circumstances surrounding you. If you already have the proper circumstances surrounding you (a healthy income, sufficient knowledge, personal growth, good relationships, etc. ), then you are already happy.

A state of happiness is a subjective, interpersonal state, however, as I stated above, it is not an objective, real-world objective. What does this mean to you? It means that you, as an ethical human being, must work to make yourself happy! Now, this doesn’t mean that you’ll have to work over others or anything like that; however, if you want to truly achieve happiness in your life, then you will need to work to be happy, for you, yourself, and others. It will require an ethical theory that goes beyond personal happiness to make you a happier person in general.

Your happiness is the chief good. If you feel miserable because you don’t have enough external goods, then your chief good is suffering. If you feel miserable because you lack personal virtues, then your chief good is virtue. If you want to be happy, then you need to cultivate all of the virtues. In other words, if you want to acquire external goods, like money and safety, then you should focus on acquiring those external goods, but if you want to develop inner virtue and happiness, then those external goods shouldn’t prevent you from cultivating those inner virtues.