Washington Monument, Washington, D.C. (Cycle 1, 2009)
“Happiness,” the professor began, “must be maintained, like good health.”
She spoke with authority, having successfully defended a dissertation on the subject, and with the enthusiasm you might expect from someone who would plot such a course in life. She explained that just as one swallow does not make a summer, one bout of exercise or a healthy meal cannot preserve or restore your good health. Only a persistent, committed effort can do that. The same is true for happiness.
Dr. Vitrano’s simple opening statement only set the frame for the more complicated questions contained within the ethics of our old pal Aristotle, but for me this was the lesson, complete. In a handful of words my mind was pried open to receive a truth instantly plain to me. I marveled at this new and sudden knowledge. I cherish such moments in learning.
I have gone to the Greeks once before in this project, since they enrich our world with a word for every circumstance: during preparation for the Shout for Love in January 2011, Dr. King jammed agape into my thinking, an “understanding, redemptive, creative good will for all” that immediately reshaped my efforts and set me on a truer course for the second cycle of City Love Song.
Coca-Cola construction in Cape Town, South Africa. Coke claims their own recipe for happiness. (Cycle 2, 2011)
As Dr. King’s intention was to advocate for a specific form of love, Aristotle is interested in one type of happiness, which the Greeks call eudaimonia.
A speed bump for the eyeball, sure, but say it twice (you-dye-MOAN-yuh, repeat) and never read the word again: just know it when you see it and drive straight over that thing.
Philosophy being philosophy, thoughts differ on the best translation of this word, but we can agree that it requires more than simply feelin’ groovy. Aristotle describes action as a necessary component of this happiness, a constant striving for excellence in an effort to fulfill your highest function as a human being.
Such constant striving, such action may well be called the pursuit of happiness.
Rally flags, Boston (Cycle 1, 2009)
This vaunted phrase and its preceding clauses aptly articulate the American ambition, if not the American dream, which so often is conflated with property ownership and money. Aristotle saw that money could assist in gaining happiness, but that is all it can do; it is a means toward an end, so wealth is not the highest form of happiness. Same with honor, or power, or pleasure. We have to work. We’ve got to act, and we must constantly strive to improve our actions, for the most rewarding form of happiness.
Just as attending the gym demands discipline and chews up the clock and is sometimes boring, work on this project requires an almost constant effort, and is not always easy or fun. But just as commitment to exercise eventually yields better health, this work has kept me happy, near-contented, and proud.
Staples on a public announcement board in Philadelphia (Cycle 1, 2009)
Efforts to cultivate my best skills for better application to their best and highest purpose has rewarded me with happiness. Better still is recognizing how much remains for me to learn, and the countless ways in which I can improve, so there will be no shortage of work to do in bettering myself through a lifetime, just as there will be ongoing efforts required to maintain my physical health.
The lessons of Aristotle and Dr. Vitrano prove true. I have far to go in becoming my best or better self, but I am gaining in the process. Happiness is my reward. I hope the same is true for you.
This mural, on a wall not far from where I live, earnestly (if clumsily) exhorts us to a life of action.
