The Happiness has gone out of fashion?

For the philosophers of Antiquity, the fundamental question was: how do we find happiness? Aristotle wrote to his son Nicomachus: “Happiness is unquestionably the sovereign good, the supreme good”. To achieve it, however, we need to know what man's true act is: that is, to act in accordance with his own reason; and an activity that is consistent with virtue.1" “The best asset of man is the activity of the soul directed by virtue”, virtue meaning the ‘firm and constant disposition of the soul, which leads to doing good and shunning evil’ (Dict. Académie française).

However, more than a fundamental motivation, happiness remains a road to follow, which is not always easy!. Indeed, “The solemn and sombre man, entrenched in an impenetrable reserve, rarely knows joy. Individuals who once suggested that to be virtuous one had to lead a dull and sinister life, tended to conclude that all pleasure comes from vices. Nothing could be further from the truth. Immorality has never led to joy and pleasure! Quite the contrary! Joy and pleasure only flourish in honest hearts. Immoral beings live an incredibly tragic existence, full of pain and suffering. Human virtues have very little to do with gloom. They are the bright side of existence.” (L. Ron Hubbard, The Way to Happiness).

The philosophies of Antiquity hesitated between two paths: that of asceticism (hardening oneself against evils to achieve the plenitude of the soul), or that which, on the contrary, leads to making the most of life... Between one and the other, how do we define happiness? “LIFE IS A GAME“.

A game is made up of FREEDOM, BARRIERS and GOALS.

This is a scientific fact, not just an observation.

Freedom exists in the midst of barriers. An omnipresence of barriers and total freedom are both “no-game conditions”. Both are equally cruel, equally purposeless. [...] Fixated on too many barriers, Man yearns to be free. But given complete freedom, he is aimless and miserable.

It is possible to be free in the midst of barriers. If the barriers are known, if the freedoms are known, it is possible to live, to exist, to be happy, to have a game (2).

(1) Aristoteles, Nicomachean Ethics, Book I, Chapter VII. (2) L. Ron Hubbard, The Fundamentals of Thought, P. 54-55.