There is so much bad news in the world that I've spent much of the night thinking about "What is happiness?" It's a fascinating question and one that I answered to my own satisfaction quite a few years ago. Like every other question, answering it depends largely on how you define the item that's under the microscope.

The word 'happiness' is used in different ways. When you laugh at a joke, you could be called "happy"; this approach links happiness to specific experiences and, so, makes it a transitory state. Other views of happiness link it to specific things that satisfy desire -- e.g. money -- and, so, turns happiness into an acquisition or, at least, into the by-product of an acquisition. I don't doubt that experiences and acquisitions can promote feelings of joy, satisfaction, relief, triumph, etc. and that these feelings constitute happiness to some people.

Defining happiness is a personal business but I have always been suspicious of definitions that seem to view it as the sum total of pleasures or things. There are too many walking-talking counter-examples of people with money who are miserable, of people who are in agony because they dependent on experiences for happiness (e.g. drug addicts). Certainly pleasure and enjoyable things are associated with happiness but I suspect that being happy depends more upon the person than upon the experience.

The approach that has always intrigued me is the view of happiness as a character trait -- almost as a habit of personality. You sometimes refer to an individual as a "happy person" in the same way you call someone "an angry man" or "a worry-wart." The "happy people" I've met exude a sense of self-acceptance and peace-of-mind. But more than this, they enjoy the process of living and their enjoyment doesn't seem to hinge upon specific experiences or acquisitions. They probably prefer to be rich but great wealth wouldn't make them significantly happier than having enough to satisfy their basic needs.

To back up a bit, the main reason I am suspicious of basing happiness upon specific experiences or things is because happiness then becomes utterly dependent upon events and circumstances that are often beyond control. Approaching happiness as a character trait, however, gives it roots and makes it resilient in the face of bad experience or the want of things.

Although I have profound disagreements with Ayn Rand's evaluation of human psychology, especially her analysis of sexuality, my own thinking about happiness springboards off Rand's basic approach to the entire area. Rand considered emotional states to result largely from the value judgments people make about themselves and the world. I think "happy people" have made specific value judgments about the most basic psychological questions an individual can ask about himselves and his life. They are: "do I fundamentally like and respect who I am?"; "is my life successful by the standards by which I define success?" These questions are different than from other similar ones such as "do I like how I look today or how I scored on a test?" The questions and answers are fundamental, not based on any one experience or circumstance...or even a set of experiences or circumstances.

Logically, those who can answer both questions with an overwhelming "yes" will feel happiness as natural, as the state-of-being that they bring to experience and circumstance. In other words, as a character trait or habit. Happy people might get depressed from time-to-time -- e.g. because of an illness or a death -- but they remain "happy people" in the same way an angry person remains filled with bitterness even if he laughs occasionally. In other words, happiness is not an omnipresent, constant state but more of a "default position" or a defining aspect of the person's overall character through time.

No doubt, pleasure and circumstance can promote happiness both as a transitory state and as a character trait. If a person is born with an agonizing disease or endures one for years, it would be very difficult for him to develop the characteristic of happiness. Equally, if your self-image is as the pawn of a malevolent reality, then anything but brief episodes of happiness are unlikely. Otherwise stated...an abundance of pleasure or things do not create lasting happiness. However the presence of pain or extreme want can prevent happiness from developing as a character trait or habit.

What else aids or dissuades the development of such happiness? I hope to touch on them tomorrow.