Although this line comes from a comedic and often flippant show, it struck me as a particularly accurate definition of happiness. A feeling based on circumstances, and one that few can obtain, because honestly how many people can claim that all there dreams have come true. When looking at this definition of happiness the idea of a right to it becomes much less convincing. The possibility that everybody is entitled to having their dreams come true is simply absurd because it would be impossible for such a thing to happen because the dreams would always conflict. Multiple people dream of ruling the world, having the same prestigious job, such as president, or of alternate universes with completely different sets of possibilities. The idea is simply ludicrous.
Ultimately I believe that the proponents of the idea of happiness as a right realize that it is in fact an impossibility. They are seeking more for a justification rather than a philosophy. They are reluctant to admit that they have been wrong and so try to say that they had a right to act as they did. In his essay Have no Right to Happiness C.S. Lewis points out that this tactic has primarily been used in regards to sexual infidelity, whether in or out of marriage. People have not yet fallen to the level of claiming that excuse for things such as murder or rape, but their reasoning could be applied to those actions leaving us in a very depraved world indeed. It is however, commonly used as a justification for divorce. Far to often you here a couple citing that they were no longer happy with each other (referring typically to sexually happy) and thus they got a divorce.
Sexual promiscuity has become increasingly acceptable in Western culture. The media bombards us with suggestive images of females in countless advertisements, and movies depict sexual relations outside of marriage increasingly in a positive light and with growing rarity in a negative one. The concept has been taken so far that many teenagers across America think that virgins have something wrong with them, and the term is often born with shame rather than dignity. Instead of conveying self-respect, patience, and virtue, to many virgin has come to convey social awkwardness, prudishness, or unattractiveness. It seems that the concept has advanced even further just as Lewis predicted. "The fatal principle, once allowed in that department, must sooner or later seep through our whole lives." This principle in culture has already seeped into the realm of drug usage and alcoholism. I have heard multiple times that marijuana usage and getting drunk are okay because we have a right to happiness.
This principle is an epidemic that is spreading and needs to be fought. Those that fall to it will come to find that the happiness promised doesn't last or satisfy like they thought it would. They will be left feeling empty. A portion of the song from Wicked, quoted above very poetically describes that disappointment.
No, I couldn't be happier
Though it is, I admit
The tiniest bit
Unlike I anticipated
But I couldn't be happier
Simply couldn't be happier
Well - not "simply":
'Cause getting your dreams
It's strange, but it seems
A little - well - complicated
There's a kind of a sort of : cost
There's a couple of things get: lost
There are bridges you cross
You didn't know you crossed
Until you've crossed
And if that joy, that thrill
Doesn't thrill you like you think it will...
Often times we find ourselves pursuing pleasures, trying to make ourselves happy. This is a futile path but we are so easily sucked into it. this is what happens when we substitute happiness for joy. As Lewis says, "Joy, must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and Pleasure. Joy has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again...I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is." Joy is not circumstantial as both pleasure and happiness are. In fact joy is found in places where one would never find happiness or pleasure. James 1:2 tells us to, "Consider it pure joy, my brother, whenever you face trials of many kinds" and in Hebrews 12:2 we are told to "...fix our eyes upon Jesus... who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame." Joy is found in suffering when happiness has fled. We have no right to happiness but we should not even be seeking it in the first place. In seeking happiness we have simply misplaced our longing for joy.
I had not thought of the fact that the right to happiness could just be an excuse for bad behavior that the the proponents of it do not actually believe in. It makes sense though.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about how lots of people want the same thing. I think this builds on an idea that Lewis only touched on. It is obvious that Mr. A's wife was not happy in this situation. I believe that Lewis could have stopped Clare in her tracks if he had asked "What about Mrs. A's right to happiness?" She obviously was happy when she was married to Mr. A and he took that from her. Is our happiness worth stealing someone else's?
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head when you said that the proponents of the "right to happiness" are looking for a justification rather than a philosophy. This attitude of looking for a justification is defiantly not restricted to the secular sphere. It is an epidemic in the church. People are flocking to preachers and churches who affirm sinful lifestyles and behaviors that directly contradict scripture. Instead of directly claiming the "right to happiness" these preachers have an extremely low view of scripture and see it as a thing that can be bent and played with in order to let them justify sin neglect the need for repentance. This problem is indeed one that desperately needs to be addressed both inside and outside of the church.
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