The words, pursuit of happiness in the documents of the American founding fathers have often appeared in the public press and other literature during my lifetime. They are found in contexts that either state or imply that there is much yet to be done to make sufficient happiness quotients available in volume generally expected. Most persons answer variously, even contradictory to one another when asked the question: What do you need to make you happy in life? The answers usually relate to greater wealth, better health, loving families, and professional success. All this is related to long life with economic security. For a great many persons there is added the sense of spiritual status with God, so to meet life fears and meet the hope of immortality. Scripture relates this last to hope, a doctrine. It is doubtful if Thomas Jefferson, credited with the authorship of the phrase, pursuit of happiness, held to hope for immortality. He must have referred to freedom of action, adequate life resources, opportunities and long life satisfaction.
Pursuit of happiness is both true and misleading as a bare statement. It is true that persons want to be happy, and that they do many things to gain a modicum of happiness, so it becomes a pursuit whether mild or vigorous. It is misleading in that it needs to be defined by the persons using it so as to perceive what it means for them to be happy. Jefferson lived in the style of the manor with fine wines, and was always in debt, relieved a bit in the buying and selling of slaves who worked his lands and served his entourage. His wife died early in their marriage, but he appears to have kept a surrogate intimate slave woman – so to keep his promise to his wife that he would not remarry on her demise. He owned a beautiful home he was constantly upgrading to meet increasingly larger tastes. He was comforted in the respect that the community held for him as a father of the nation, but he exploited his fame somewhat at the expense of others. His happiness, if indeed he was privately happy, came at the expense of others and some of their happiness. I trust that most persons would not pursue happiness as Jefferson did, even though his public contributions to his country and society were magnificent, and continue today as related to the pursuit of happiness. We leave Jefferson’s life to biography, his public contributions to history, and person to God.
Happiness is as much a consequence as a pursuit. Much of happiness is not related to the larger society but to the realization of personal ambition, of a loving family, of health sustained to old age, of a sense of security in an always fluctuating society of wealth and poverty, peace and warfare, confidence and insecurity, and the inevitable requirements necessary to the management of love and discontent. Recent to this writing I reviewed a number of statements made by elderly persons (96 to 114 years of age) responding to a poll taker about their longevity, and what it took to get there. The responses, with a few exceptions were quite similar. They were happy as elders, felt this the best period of their lives even with the weakness of aging. They appreciated family unity; moderated lifestyle in food and drink; deliberate evasion of some of the negatives of life, like tension and worry; and. a contained faith in something whether God or some ideal. The pursuit of happiness appears to have been a deliberate decision as the most significant factor in the mix that made for happiness. They decided they were going to be happy with whatever life gave them. They didn’t fault anyone, nor did they try to escape responsibility. No one else, spouse, child or some other, was to take responsibility for their happiness. They created (pursued) their way in a spirit that brought personal peace, and in that they found contentment. The negatives of others were not their negatives, but seen as factors that prevent those others from measurements of happiness.
There is happiness that may be formed in common grace, if the indications are followed. The same factors apply to the Christian except that the believer in God has added a special joy that elevates, that goes beyond the limitations of mortality and time. It has ingredients of satisfaction, faith, contentment, confidence, and hope directing the pursuit to the everlasting. Jesus announced those persons blessed who plan their lives not in materialism, power, celebrity, but in following God’s life values. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020