What is happiness? Have you ever thought about happiness deeply? I recently reviewed one of Daniel Gilbert’s, who is currently a professor at Harvard University, lectures. I also read an article “The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” written by Jon Gertner in the “New York Times”. These two talk about happiness as the main concept. Gilbert said that “There are two different kinds of happiness”. One of them is synthetic happiness and the other one is natural happiness. What is synthetic happiness and natural happiness?
Most people have experience of both types of happiness. Synthetic happiness is from your imaginations or predictions. For example, if you were to buy your own house, how would you feel? You may predict that it’d have a huge back yard, living room, a lot of rooms, a perfect view and then after a few years, the house’s profit should be higher. How does this affect you? I guess you’d be smiling at this bright future. Thus, something you imagine makes you happy and smile, Gilbert calls it synthetic happiness. We use our sensory systems to predict what will make us happy and what will not.
Natural happiness is unpredictable happiness. It can happen over time and at any time. For example, while you were walking on streets, you suddenly find a lottery ticket on the ground. You then take it, and realize you’ve won. How does this make you feel? It’d truly make you happier, wouldn’t it? Gilbert said in one of his lectures that natural happiness is “what you get when you get what you want.”
I have had both experiences through my life. When I think about my future it makes me happy. I usually envision myself becoming a famous person as a computer programmer. I imagine having dinner with Bill Gates, having a casual chat with Steve Jobs on phone and having a happy family while earning a lot of money. I am pretty sure that this is what makes me happy. So, it is one of my experiences of synthetic happiness in my life.
Also I have had different kinds of experiences. Last year I tried to buy a new car. However, it gave me a hard time because I had to check my background thoroughly for everything to be processed. It took a little bit of time. Finally I got a new car and I registered it with my name and not my father’s. It was the first time that I had my own car. It made me really happy. I felt like flying. This was my process of natural happiness.
So like the “New York Times” article title, is our journey really a futile process in pursuing our happiness? I believe that it’s not because there are many different things that make different people happy. Whether it’d be synthetic or natural, it’s still happiness. I don’t see any negative outcomes from both happiness.
