Philosophy Paper

I. Many factors come into play when trying to live a happy life. Philosophers have different thoughts about how to attain happiness in life. Joining activities, exercising, and religious practices and beliefs are some of the many ways to become happy. Although many people have found happiness through religious practice, Bertrand Russell disagrees. Russell believes that God cannot bring happiness to a self absorbed being, but when viewing God in a more broad sense, it can be concluded that God has the potential to sprout joy in life.
II. Unlike animals, human beings cannot find happiness only by satisfying hunger, and being healthy. We have a desire to be happy and to choose to seek it for a more enjoyable life. Bertrand Russell believes that with all average living factors constant such as stable income, health, and unfortunate events, unhappiness is caused by being self absorbed. He believes this type of unhappiness is harder to turn around because it occurs on a daily basis. There are different types of self absorption which ruins the pursuit of happiness that must be addressed such as the narcissist, megalomaniac, and the sinner. Overall, he claims that to overcome these types of unhappiness, there must be a focus towards external interests and a less focus on internal interests. The narcissist loves himself excessively and expects others to praise him in the same way that he feels about himself. This is more common in terms of physical beauty. When vanity is prioritized, love becomes meaningless because the love for oneself is greater than the interest in others. Having no interest in others destroys enjoyment in everything, leaving nothing but “boredom.” Other interests in the self besides vanity affect the happiness of the narcissist too, because a self-focused person who does not have interests in others is not admirable, thus cannot satisfy the desire of a narcissist. In order for the narcissist to achieve happiness, they must gain more self respect