Differing Conceptioins of Happiness

Happiness is an important factor in human life. It is what human beings seek. It is identified with pleasure, with the absence of pain, and it contrasts with sadness, anguish, grief, and similar "negative" emotions. Happiness has different meanings according to different religious beliefs and in different cultures around the world. In some religions, happiness is defined as an acceptance of religious doctrine and a subsequent unity with God or some other deity. In some religions it is a matter of achieving a sense of community, and in others it may be a personal matter, something enjoyed by the individual once he or she achieves a certain level of understanding and acceptance. These differing conceptions can be discerned in a comparison of several religious communities on the subject of happiness, and these communities will be Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Judaism.

Religion generally involves an attempt to achieve some degree of enlightenment, an achievement of a certain knowledge of the holy and of the acceptance of that knowledge into one's life. Religion is a life-transforming concept, a body of doctrine and knowledge that guides the individual to select what is right in behavior and to shun what is considered wrong. Doing so brings the individual a level of happiness, or religious joy, or whatever specific term may be used to indicate that the individual has achieved this understanding and has received a flood of good feelings f

s of the human being are addressed in Judaism in terms of three primary needs related to salvation. The first are the physical needs whose fulfillment constitutes what we mean by health, and these are satisfied by food, shelter, and the gratification of the mating instinct. The second need is the need for love, and the individual needs to feel close in relationship to other human beings who consider the individual important and who in turn are important to that individual. The third need is the need for creativity, for the individual needs the opportunity for self-expression, which gives purpose to work and play. If the individual lacks these conditions, he or she experiences frustration. As for the individual, each person is entitled to realize his or her creative potentialities, and this means that society must provide everyone with the economic and cultural opportunities necessary for this maximum realization of personhood: This is what is meant in the affirmation that men are created equal. They are created with an equal right to whatever opportunities exist in our society for making the most of their native capacities as human beings (Kaplan 81). In Judaism, the role of society is to enable each individual to achieve

Category: Philosophy - D