If the achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life...

Аутор прилога: Теодора Шево

Илијана Баљак

Илијана Баљак, ученица четвртог разреда Четврте гимназије, написала је један од два најбоља есеја на овогодишњем школском такмичењу у писању филозофских есеја на енглеском језику. Она и Лука Милошевић, аутор другог есеја на задату тему, представљаће Четврту гимназију на међународном такмичењу „Baltic Sea Philosophy Essay Event” (BSPEE) које ће се одржати у оквиру обележавања Светског дана филозофије,  21. новембра 2024.  Према пропозицијама, есеј се пише на задату тему, тачније на основу цитата из дела неког од познатих светских филозофа.

“Accept the fact that the achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of
your life, and that happiness—not pain or mindless self-indulgence—is the proof of
your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the
achievement of your values.”
Ayn Rand (1905–1982), Atlas Shrugged (1957), Random House, p. 1059.

From the moment man sees the light, the moment his eyes open and his cries fill the room, man walks the Earth as its proud owner. Scatters pieces of himself everywhere, leaving prints deep into the history; dripping memories follow every path he goes, marking the Earth again and again. In every gust of wind there are mans remains, in every flower that grows too. And if you were to stand still in one place of your choice, listening and waiting to hear traces of man, a form of constant buzzing would reach your ears. Sounds of cries, battle wails, screams and gore seem to be completely buried, buried deep by the sounds of human happiness.
Happiness seems to be the man’s first and foremost wish. The things one does mostly depend on ones desperation to be content, and the result of those actions? One day, standing in dark, nothing but his soul left, he might ponder if everything was worth it. Had his moral purpose on earth been fulfilled, checked positive on the to-do list, the second his happiness has been achieved? Or perhaps was it just his personal purpose, his selfish wish?
The above-mentioned quote by Ayn Rand combines centuries-long debate about morality and moral purpose of man with concept of happiness and personal achievements, giving it a special twist. Terms mentioned in this essay should be carefully dissected, their meaning in and out of context analyzed, as well as all different factors that could make this quote less absolute, and I will try to do so in this essay.
Rand claims that one’s happiness in the only moral purpose of their life and proof of their moral integrity. The quote as it stands is pretty absolutistic, but it can be brought to a higher level – ones happiness stems only from their own content, not others; men with moral purpose are of course all moral men, and happiness is the sole result of moral integrity and comes only from fulfillment of your moral values.
First term that seems too broad to me is happiness itself. Is achievement of happiness actually possible, if we look at that achievement as an absolutely positive outcome of one’s life? Humans live turbulent lives, and there has been no man that hadn’t once been wronged, hadn’t once indulged in sadness or had the bitter aftertaste of tears and rage in his mouth. While man might try to achieve that perfect life, it seems simply impossible. Happiness is a fully isolated term here, and its brought only in relation to morals. But truth is, in real life, happiness depends on other peoples actions, mentality and psychological state. But at the end of the day achievement of happiness might be looked at as an all-around sum of one’s feeling; when it’s all done and man lies in the grave, does he consider himself happy with his life, as bad, gross and scandalous as it was in some moments? If we look at the concept of achievement of happiness as the latter, then quote might make more sense, but in its absolute form it lacks absolutivity.
The problem stands as well in the word your happiness. Is a moral man being reduced to nothing but a selfish being? If man guided by his morals searches only his own personal happiness, disregarding the lives of others, that makes him a rather cruel being, not a moral one. And if every man does only thing that make him happy, world would look like a different place. Men aren’t inherently solely good beings; men do terrible things, guiltless, proud, taking joy in making the world a living hell. So if a man whose happiness stems from killing others, man whose morals whisper to him that its right, goes on a killing spree taking lives of many, can his actions be defended in the name of his happiness and personal achievements? Victims could then tell you that if anything their pain is the result of someone’s achievement of their own values. While this may seem like an extreme example, it seems like the extremes and absolutes are needed in this case to show the true flaws of this problem.
Morality and moral values are regarded as subjective, relative rules that depend on everything, from time that man lives in to their personal desires and psyche. But one thing stands clear, as long as morals are relative, wobbly thing, mans actions will be too.
 
While happiness stands as the one and only proof of  moral integrity, pain and self-indulgence are selected and showed as examples of what is not, and here I would have to disagree too. In our lives, there are times where the pain we are willing to suffer to show off our moral values, to stand by them as battles clash around us, to stay loyal to ourselves first and foremost,  times whre its proven once and for all that we do have moral integrity. And anyways, does happiness truly come from achievement of your values? Or does it rather come from the loyalty to their achievements?  In this cruel world full of lies, one may give up his morals to better himself in other fields such as monetary and political, and he might even end up valuing those benefits more than ones he has from being moral. That lack of loyalty to himself might not hurt his happiness afterall. On the other hand, I would personally rather give up those cheap benefits, stand tall and proud, knowing that I’m happy and myself still.
And eventually, start of the quote brings questions as well. Acceptance of this truth…? What comes of that acceptance? Will men live an easier life, a different life once they realize that they should search happiness and that it comes from being loyal to your morals? Perhaps they could find some peace in knowing that, would continue to do good things and will try to make as many people as possible happy. Perhaps accepting that would make the other man turn into the devil himself, make them wreck havoc everywhere they go.
In this essay I have analyzed the quote and given my thoughts on this sensitive topic. To conclude, my personal opinion on the truth of it leans more into the negative space. I have found plenty of holes within it, that could change the narrative and understanding of the problem completely. My opinion stand - maybe the true purpose of life is indeed happiness, what man reaches for in every aspect of his life, but I recon moral purpose is not.