A short history of happiness

Who came up with the idea of happiness, and how has that idea developed over the centuries? We present a compact chronology.

The biblical Book of Job

6th century BC

Early Christians were not looking for happiness on Earth. What counted was an unshakeable faith in God — regardless of the pain a person had to suffer. Take Job, for example, a good man who lost his money, his family and his health, but never his faith in God.

The Stoics

3rd century BC

The Stoics were all about extreme eudaimonia. They believed in turning their backs on pleasure, looking pain in the eye and cultivating the mental strength to confront any disaster. Their notion of self-denial, translated to the pursuit of godliness, is also woven into Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

The Renaissance

15th–16th century AD

Renaissance thinkers did not generally believe in this punitive approach to life. For them, the pursuit of happiness would not necessarily lead to the gates of hell. No wonder Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has a smirk on her face!

The happiness revolution

21st century

The economist Richard Layard believes that we are on the cusp of a “happiness revolution”. Right now, he says, we are caught between old-fashioned expectations, based on personal success, and the beginning of a “gentler culture” of collective well-being.

In the gentler new world, the name of the game will be taking care of ourselves while contributing to the happiness of others. In this happiness revolution, says Layard, we can all be heroes.

Buddha

5th–4th century BC

Buddha recommended meditation as a way of detaching from unhelpful thinking patterns, allowing us to step back from our troublesome cravings. Today, these might be addictions to love, to drink, to food, to shopping, to phone swiping. Modern “mindfulness” has its roots in Buddhism.

Aristotle

4th century BC

By the 4th century BC, the Greek philosopher Aristotle had drawn a clear line between looking for pleasure (hedonia) and the more permanent feelings of well-being achieved through virtuous activities (eudaimonia). For him, eudaimonia was the better option.

Romanticism

18th–19th century

The Romantics placed passion and feeling above all else. Emotion was expressed in art, music, poetry, drama and literature. Think of Ludwig van Beethoven and his soul-stirring compositions. Or William Blake straddling heaven and hell with his paintings and writing. In many ways, our understanding of happiness as an individual search for fulfilment comes from the Romantics.