In Search of Happiness - An Allegorical Reference to Mankind's Thirst

By: Galvin Walcott

     Life is a relentless pursuit of happiness.  Happiness is the common bond that ties all of our efforts, all of our thoughts and all of our goals together.  We look to education as a means to intellectual happiness, embrace religion as a means to spiritual happiness, and employment as a means to financial happiness.  I can go on and on, linking our everyday endeavors to the quest for happiness.  Yet as common as this connection may seem, many fail to see or acknowledge its presence.  Well, my eyes are not open “wide shut”, I see the connection everyday, and it is my wish to communicate the journey of happiness to all who are in pursuit. 

    One of the greatest philosophical contributions to mankind’s pursuit of contentment was Plato’s “Allegory of the cave.” I prefer to call it “The happiness of the cave”, and quite rightly so.  I believe Plato used the search for the truth by virtue of intellect as a disguise for the quest for higher happiness.  It may be perceived as ludicrous to think that men held as prisoners, were happy in their present state, in a cave filled with fires, shapes and echoes.  But, I believe they were.  They were content with their habitat and foreseeable destiny, no matter how unreal or detested their circumstances were.  This contentment handicapped their yearning to search for the truth and it was not until some were unchained, turned around and forced to exit the cave did some sense of reality become of their surroundings.  These few men were pushed into intellectual light to show them that true happiness extends beyond contemporary surroundings.  The lesson Plato hopes to connect to us, is to never be satisfied with our present state of mind, think, deep think if we must, go beyond the box, beyond the cave, for somewhere out there true happiness awaits. 

     Intellect was the instrument of deception used by Plato in his allegory because he knew many would catch on to this approach, which is the natural path of a philosopher.  For this reason, I will not ridicule my anti-happiness interpreters.  He who philosophizes without the offerings of enlightenment is a sham - and Plato knew that fully well.  Plato had to use the offering of wisdom, the belief in the ascension of the soul to the intelligible region, as a mask for the real lesson here, the search for happiness.  And even when found, the few previously released prisoners upon their return to their original setting found it difficult to market such happiness to the rest of their comrades because many were contented with their present state of well-being.  To propose a higher happiness in the midst of existing happiness is the curse of man.  Plato brilliantly “allegorized” this to us.  If we were to only challenge happiness for greater happiness then we will reach higher highs.  Until then we will continue to live in a state of pleasure holding certain lies to be truths.

     Two great thinkers of the past have set me on a path of the pursuit of the ultimate goal, happiness.  Aristotle defined happiness as “the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”  And Epicurus explained it as “man's greatest aim in life.” Now that I know the magnitude of happiness and the shortfalls of contentment, I will not hesitate to turn over new stones in search of a higher enjoyment.  Such a course of action will inevitably lead me to break with old paradigms and make new assumptions.  I am not scared to do both.  I intend to rise out of the cave of darkness into the light of happiness.  Come my brothers and sisters, let us go hand in hand, and pursue happiness.  Let the journey begin!!

Galvin's narrative was written in September 2004 with the intention of motivating people to constantly strive for bigger and better things.  It stresses that, never should one be contented with achieved goals - it's the unachieved that should be our constant calling.  That constant calling is a desire for higher happiness, and it's a story that has been told to us for many,  many,  many,  moons....