Happy

One of the objections to Utilitarianism that John Stuart Mill takes on in the titular 1861 essay, “Utilitarianism” is the worry that happiness is not possible, “for if no happiness is to be had at all by human beings, the attainment of it cannot be the end of morality, or of any rational conduct.”

But as he points out, this is to misconstrue the nature of happiness.  “If by happiness be meant a continuity of highly pleasurable excitement, it is evident enough that this is impossible. A state of exalted pleasure lasts only moments, or in some cases, and with some intermissions, hours or days, and is the occasional brilliant flash of enjoyment, not its permanent and steady flame.”

So, yeah, if we’re talking pure bliss all the time, then, sure, happiness is beyond the reach of human beings.  

But, as he goes on to explain, once we properly conceive of happiness, then we can see that it is an attainable, and thus, worthy, goal.  

In one of my favorite all-time philosophical quotes, he proposes that happiness is “not a life of rapture; but moments of such, in an existence made up of few and transitory pains, many and various pleasures, with a decided predominance of the active over the passive, and having as the foundation of the whole, not to expect more from life than it is capable of bestowing.”

Is that a perfect description of what a summer evening bike ride is like or what?

Moments of rapture, check: the instant you dive off the dock into the smooth warmth of Lake Washington’s watery embrace.

Few and transitory pains, check: climbing up the switchbacks through the trees, already done!

Many and various pleasures, check: the actives ones certainly predominating over the passive.

Not expecting more from life than it is capable of bestowing, check: on such a night, life so easily exceeds all expectations that one is incapable of expecting more than it already bestows.