Aristotle speaks in his classic work, Nicomachean Ethics – a book everyone should read – that happiness is the one thing we choose for itself.
“Play” is the essence of happiness. We play for the sole reason of receiving joy from the game we play. Whatever we play: sports, music, art, adventures, etc, we do them for the sole purpose of receiving joy from that particular activity.
People love music, it fills them with joy. Others who do not enjoy music will choose to do something else, such as hike.
But even more amazing, Aristotle teaches that this one concept, “Joyful Happiness,” is at the root of every decision, especially those powerful ones:
¨ Does my life have real meaning?
¨ Is my life successful?
¨ Do I value the lives of others?
¨ Is my life worth living?
Joyful Happiness is powerful, it makes us do things that makes us joyful and happy.
From the foods we eat, to the clothes we wear, to the friends we keep, to the places we worship, we make choices dependent upon the amount of joyful happiness we think we will enjoy from them.
This is a much different notion than was it fun. Fun lasts for the moment. Joyful happiness lingers, knowing it was the best thing. It touches my future.
Sadly, many people make choices based upon pleasures and personal achievements rather than on what they can contribute to others and what transcendent values by which they will live.
Christmas is a time of immense happiness, for during Advent and Christmas, we not only enjoy the pleasures of eating and drinking, but we also connect with justice, peace, kindness, and charity. These bring joy!
Even the greatest skeptics of Christmas encounter the transcendent values of charity and good-will revealing a deep profound joy because Christmas touches on the transcendent values of peace, justice, beauty, goodness and ultimately love. Christmas then is the Happy Time of the Year because this happiness fulfills all four levels of happiness.