happiness

The article started off by saying that no person chooses to be unhappy. If this is

true, then we all must try to be happy. We all must search for some innate happiness to

fulfill our lives and hearts. However, that’s not the point the spitzer brings up. Spitzer is

trying to make people realize that there are different levels to happiness, and that each

one greatly differs from the last even if they’re all forms of happiness. It says there’s

material happiness, or happiness in a thing or possession that you own. Another

happiness it tells you about is feeling superior, or better than someone else. I think that is

a wrong kind of happiness. There’s another type of happiness where you feel happy about

doing charitable works, or seeing the good in other people. I don’t think anyone can be

truly content if they don’t believe that people are good. The last category of happiness is

the one where you’re just completely content with yourself and your surroundings. This

is true happiness. It can be achieved by love or goodness. I think that of the four

categories, this is the one that everyone is striving for.

The second essay goes even much deeper than that, telling us that there is

something that we strive for more than even happines. It says that there is a thign that can

fulfill us more deeply than the feelings that happiness gives to us. Kreeft brings up a very

good point when he talks about how sex is often times subsituted for sanctity or

something else that’s missing in a persons life. With my own experiences with it, I can

definitely see how he has a point. I’ve known partners who seem to use sex to fill a void

in their life instead of trying to fix it. He tells perople to get off of their butts and actually

go out and find their joy, not just sit down and mope, longing for some type of joy. He

seems to really believe that sex can be a good thing, under the right circumstances, but

should never be substitued for your heavenly grace. That, above everything else, seems to

be his main focus in the article

Coming from the viewpoint of a “new age hippie”, or so I am called by

many, I found these articles on happiness quite interesting. I find that I , myself, do not

focus on the materialistic pleasures or the simple pleasures that get in the way. These

forms of happiness are just trivial things compared to the true happiness that you can

achieve in life. If you exclude these small things, and hold on to your faith and strive for

true contentment in the good of others and love, then I believe it’s possible to attain a

profound form of satisfaction throughout your entire life. As I mentioned earlier in the

article, I have had a few experiences with the main topic of the third article, sex. As a

“hippie” our morals about it are semi-loose. I did not agree with everything Kreeft said in

his article. However, I did feel that he brought up very good points about sex. While I

believe there Is nothing wrong with it before marriage, I do believe both partners should

love each other. Sex without love and true consent is a complete waste of time an energy.

You simply do not get the same deep gratification when you sleep with someone for the

carnal pleasure than you do when you sleep with someone because you love them.