Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Most Americans are familiar with these words in the introduction to the 1776 Declaration of Independence. The full phrase is: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The concept of happiness has evolved significantly since this phrase was first introduced. Now we often associate the thought of happiness with living “the good life,” a concept hijacked by advertisers and portrayed as a life in which we seek pleasure, relaxation, and material goods. In effect, our postmodern society has told us that we can achieve happiness through consumption.
But more choices and personal freedom have led to higher expectations, which have led to never being satisfied with what we have! We think we want more, but when we get it, it is not enough. “Enough” becomes a moving target. And we spend so much time working to pay for things we don’t really want, let alone need. In the pursuit of the “if only,” we have sacrificed our relationships, our health, and our sanity.
We’ve also been taught that we should expect to have it all and have it now. In other words, we are driven by instant gratification—and justify it with thoughts like “just put it on credit,” “there’s no need to earn the money today,” “pay for it later.” Not just individuals but cities, states, and nations have embraced and become addicted to this belief.
Left unchecked, motivational forces such as the search for pleasure and power comprise a vicious cycle and manifest themselves as an endless—and joyless—undertaking much like that experienced by the Greek hero Sisyphus, who was ordered by the gods to push a big rock uphill for eternity, only to see it slip out of his hands in the very last moment and roll down the hill once more.
The ancient Greek philosophers encouraged us to live the so-called “good life,” but what they really meant was the complete life, the meaningful life. They suggested, among other things, that we strive to build our character, virtues, or excellences. Importantly, they encouraged us to do so not only to benefit ourselves but also to benefit all of society.
Aristotle, for instance, believed that the greatest virtues are those that are most useful to others. The commonly heard phrase “living the good life” in this context means that we are acting well and living for society, not just for ourselves. U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s famous line in his 1961 inaugural address exemplifies this virtuous thought: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Unfortunately, today, it appears that we have shifted into more of a self-centered “what can my country or politicians or others do for me” mode of thinking instead.
“Man—a being in search of meaning.” — Plato
Life is really about the pursuit of meaning, which is the primary intrinsic motivation of human beings. Following the ageless wisdom of the Greek philosophers, the good or meaningful life involves the quest for two things: evdemonia, literally meaning “good spirits” but really referring to a deep sense of well-being, inner prosperity, fulfillment, and the best possible condition of being alive1; and logos, translated loosely in English today as reason, logic, the word, or, “the meaning.” Importantly, this word also has deep spiritual roots, dating back to the pre-Socratic philosophers, which add significantly to its value as a condition for understanding the human quest for meaning.2
All life experiences, both in good times and challenging times, contribute to our personal sense of meaning. Viewed through the lens of contemporary Western culture, happiness as a state of being has taken on a “hedonistic” quality. By contrast, authentic happiness is a manifestation of evdemonia, carrying with it deeper meaning and, as such, is driven by intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivations.
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The Greek concept of logos, moreover, has found its way into popular culture in different ways. Since ancient times, for instance, it has been associated with various spiritual matters, influencing such fields of human inquiry and development as philosophy, theology, and religion.3 It is also a root word of dialogue, a powerful, authentic communication process.4
Because of its spiritual underpinnings, the process of true dialogue actually involves more than just collective thinking and understanding through reason and logic. Authentic dialogue, which transcends the Socratic method per se, enables individuals to acknowledge that they each are part of a greater whole, that they naturally resonate with others within this whole, and that the whole is, indeed, greater than the sum of its various parts.5
A pioneer of meaning, the world-renowned psychiatrist and existential philosopher, Viktor E. Frankl, M.D., Ph.D., understood the deeper, spiritual interpretation and implications of the common Greek word, logos, when he developed his meaning-centric system of psychotherapy called logotherapy, known as the “Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy” (the predecessors being the Freudian and Adlerian Schools):
“A psychotherapy which not only recognizes man’s spirit, but actually starts from it may be termed logotherapy. In this connection, logos is intended to signify ‘the spiritual,’ and beyond that, ‘the meaning.’”6
Frankl was also very much concerned about the balance between freedom and responsibility. He warned that freedom threatens to degenerate into mere license and arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. He took exception, for instance, to what appeared to be a commonly accepted view of equating freedom with a license to do virtually anything one wants. In short, to Dr. Frankl, freedom without responsibility was an oxymoron.
In many ways, Viktor Frankl’s perspective on what constitutes real freedom (or “liberty” as referred to in the Declaration of Independence) can be traced back to the ageless wisdom of Aristotle and the notion of evdaimonia. Living the good life, i.e., the meaningful life, demands that we look beyond ourselves and, importantly, hold ourselves—both individually and collectively—responsible for a greater good.
For this reason, Frankl famously espoused that happiness cannot be pursued; instead, “it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.”7 (Emphasis added.)
True happiness, therefore, is a by-product of the search for meaning; paradoxically, it is neither an objective nor an end in and of itself.
Perhaps the founders involved in drafting the Declaration of Independence had these deeper concepts in mind when they wrote the words, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” More than likely, they weren’t referring to what we now describe as hedonistic happiness, a fleeting emotion and moving target, dictated by things, events, or other people, all external to ourselves. Instead, they most likely had in mind the deeper concept of meaning, combining the pursuit of evdaimonia and logos, like that espoused by the ancient Greek philosophers and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, as the ultimate purpose or end goal of life.