#The pursuit of happiness song list free#

Everyone knows theyвЂ™re a significant risk factor. The problem with absent-minded professors is theyвЂ™re happy being absent from everywhere but their minds. The вЂњreentry problem,вЂќ as Walker Percy described, for those lost in thought is severe. On the other hand, thereвЂ™s little doubt that the feel-good high you get from listening to Mozart or reveling in some other uplifting work of art does lead, as Dave says, to making stupid mistakes in ordinary life. What about the happiness comes from having lots of children and raising them well? ThatвЂ™s different than the apathetic contentment that allows you to ignore your kids while watching the game guzzling beer. But doesnвЂ™t that negative judgment depend on the cause of your happiness? It might not be true if your happiness is caused by your fulfillment of your relational responsibilities. To paraphrase the legendary Dean Wormer from Animal House, being fat, stupid, lazy, and happy is no way to go through life.

#The pursuit of happiness song list free#

It means living a life free from restless pursuit. But data shows, Dave explains, thatвЂ™s not really true вЂњexperiments suggest that people in happy moods are more gullible, prejudiced and careless of detail than are their downbeat peers.вЂќ In this respect, it seems like being happy really means being complacent or bovine contentment. The pursuit of happiness supposes that itвЂ™s better to be happy. The best way to feel good remains to be good. Old-fashioned psychology as self-discovery through candid conversation is replaced by the allegedly reliable result of mood-enhancing drugs. The right to happiness is the decadent product of the вЂњtherapeuticвЂќ orientation of our time. Even the DeclarationВ says we have a right to pursue happiness, not to be happy. Happiness is most often the result of being virtuous, although, of course, thereвЂ™s no guarantee. And Stoics think the best way to be happy is to act like a rational вЂњfortress,вЂќ always acting responsibly toward others-being magnanimous or generous-so as not to compromise who you are. Christians think that the best way to be happy is to be charitable, to act for others out of love of God.

ThatвЂ™s what evolutionary psychologists think: Our desires point us in the direction of вЂњprosocialвЂќ behavior-behavior not chosen for the sake of happiness but for the benefit of others-the social group. The best way to be happy is to do what youвЂ™re supposed to do. The best way to achieve happiness is to pursue it.

HereвЂ™s my spin on some of those reservations: The pursuit of happiness must mean that happiness in the bottom line. HereвЂ™s the DeclarationвЂ™s theory: We have the right to life, and we have the right to the liberty to use our lives to pursue happiness. One of my favorite BIG THINKERS, Dave Berreby, criticizes our Declaration of Independence.