Happiness

The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was very, very wise. 

One of his points of wisdom was to recognize that virtue is necessary but not sufficient for flourishing and happiness (in his words, eudaemonia). 

What does this mean?

Well, virtue is when one does something in a balanced fashion, that is neither deficient (too little) nor excessive (too much). For instance, courage is a virtue because it is a balance between cowardice (too little bravery) and foolhardiness (too much bravery). Necessary means "required," while sufficient means "enough." 

So, Aristotle is saying that to be happy, one must live a balanced life, but that this is not enough to be happy, because there are things that can diminish our happiness from outside, such as imposed hardships like political tyranny. Aristotle said that the most virtuous type of person was one that was magnanimous, meaning "great souled" or "appropriately prideful." A magnanimous person takes care of themselves, their family, friends, and community. But even a magnanimous person can have hardships unduly imposed upon them. 

Virtue is required for happiness, but sometimes it is not enough, and Aristotle recognizes this, when owing to human causes, as an injustice. Injustice diminishes happiness, much as a lack of virtue stunts it.

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You can find more like this on my real blog, Ambiarchy Blog, where I cover topics such as:

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• Witnessing Shell Theory: An Alternative Natural Cosmology
• Henogenic Volution Out-of-Everywhere: An Alternative Approach to Evolution
• Ambiarchy: An Alternative to Neo-Anarchism