Be Good. Be Orange.

Submitted by Madison Miller

Dan Gilbert makes key points about a topic too crucial to miss: our state of being. The widely known idea of the “American Dream,” is centered on the possibility of finding happiness. Gilbert is adamant that we are missing something of great value if we think happiness is only something that can be found. Instead he proposes happiness is something that can be synthesized. So often we see happiness only when it is natural, meaning when we get what it is we want. But synthetic happiness is possible! We can make something good and have happiness; even we don’t get what we want. Gilbert provides the example of a man who spent years wrongly imprisoned in jail and yet still describes those years as “glorious!” Gilbert advocates happiness as something we can create and that is not solely based on our circumstances and experiences. Happiness is an acceptance of things we cannot change.
Happiness requires ethics. As Gilbert demonstrates in multiple studies, we often don’t know what it is that makes us happy. We think happiness is only something we can find, undermining our capacity to create it. We mistakenly accept an imposter of happiness thinking it’s the real thing. If we live by the desire to find happiness, our ethical decisions will constantly be self-centered and result in impulse decisions we think will be the most satisfying. Ultimately those decisions lead to emptiness rather than happiness and our search only continues. If we don’t consider ethics in happiness, our desire for happiness will take priority over our ethics. If happiness is our end goal, we risk loosing our compassion for others. What we think will satisfy us ends up being all that matters and in the search of purpose we lose it.
If we don’t consider ethics in happiness then our decisions become based on what we think will make us happy. For example, if an A is what someone thinks will make them happy, then they will do everything to achieve an A. If ethics aren’t a part of achieving this happiness, then cheating to get an A is a plausible idea. If ethics are a part of happiness, then the student will probably not consider cheating and instead realize they need to work hard and study in order to get an A. Gilbert’s study on Harvard students using pictures demonstrates we are often blind to what will truly make us happy. In the study, students must choose between two pictures, one to keep and one to give away. One group had the option to swap the picture for up to four days if they changed their minds. The other group could never swap their picture; their first decision was their ultimate decision. He then asked them how happy they were with their decisions, showing those who couldn’t swap their pictures thought they’d be slightly happier than those who could. Weeks later it was found that the group who could swap their pictures for up to 4 days, did not like their picture at all and those who could never swap their pictures liked the ones they chosen a lot. They then chose another group of students, this time giving them the option to be in the reversible (could swap) group or the irreversible (couldn’t swap) group. 66% wanted to be in the reversible group, a choice that as proven earlier will ultimately lead them to be dissatisfied. This is a perfect example. We do not know what makes us happy! Gilbert makes a great point that when our ambition for happiness is not bound by ethics, we end up lying, stealing, cheating, being reckless; etc. at the hopes of finding our happiness. Happiness and ethics are intertwined. If we do not have an understanding of happiness and what it truly means to be happy, our search for happiness will be at the cost of our ethical decisions. The lyrics in Beautiful Eulogy’s song “Take It Easy” put things into perspective: “maybe you’re not finding it cause you’re not defining it right.” Too many of us search for happiness our entire lives, when it is right in front of us. I don’t want to look back and realize I spent my life on an endless search for the idea of happiness. When we put thought and other people into our ethical decisions; we will find more satisfaction and happiness in our lives than we will in a self-centered life spent searching for happiness in experiences. After all in Gilbert’s words, “we have within us the capacity to manufacture the very commodity we are chasing after!”