The Quest for Freedom and Happiness - Coursework Example

The Quest for Freedom and Happiness Overview As social beings, humans are to a very large extent justified to seek for their welfare in this life that they live. It is against this background that great psychologists like Abraham Maslow took pain to research into the needs of the human being. Basically, humans have need because they want to achieve an ultimate, which is welfare or wellbeing. According to Maslow, quoted in Chapman (2010), humans have five basic hierarchies of needs in life. From bottom to the top, these needs are biological and psychological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs and finally self actualization. A careful study of these five hierarchies would confirm that humans are really concerned with their wellbeing. Recent research among psychologists shows that two basic factors that a lot of people consider in their quest to finding wellbeing or satisfy their needs are the search for freedom and happiness (Koduah, 2007). Without any doubt, the need for freedom and happiness runs through almost all the five hierarchies as presented by Maslow. For instance with reference to the biological and psychological needs, it could be said that people seek for food because it liberates them from hunger and makes them active. Of course if a hungry man is an angry man, then a satisfied man is a happy man. This means that people seek for food to gain freedom from hunger and be happy. The said can be said of the other needs presented by Maslow. To gain freedom and happiness therefore, people do a lot of things and go through a lot of processes to fulfill their desire. It is however sad that in most cases, the quest for freedom and happiness lands a lot of people in disappointment and a feeling of failure. This essay shall therefore critically analyze how and why this paradox happens to a lot of people, especially in the developed world. Discussion of Salient Terms In order to bring out a better understanding of the topic, it is relevant that certain concepts and terms that will be used very often in the remaining parts of the essay are defined, explained and discussed. To do this, freedom, happiness, amount of choice, modern world, failure and disappointment shall be briefly discussed. Freedom: Treder (2009) explains that “freedom stands for something greater than just the right to act however I choose—it also stands for securing to everyone an equal opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This explanation put forward by Treder (2009) brings out two major ideas. That is, freedom represents the right to do whatever one pleases to do. This right is however enjoyed within the means of other people’s right or freedom. This means that one’s freedom does not permit him or her to abuse other people’s freedom. Happiness Happiness is a psychological feeling. This means that it is a condition of the state of the mind. In this direction, the Self Improvement Advice (2011) states that “happiness is a state of mind in which our thinking is pleasant, at least for a good portion of time.” This explains that happiness concerns a state of mental wellbeing where an individual have vey little or nothing to worry about. Amount of Choice The term ‘amount of choice’ used in this context refers to the presence of as many options as possible for a person to choose from. With reference to our discussion, these options are means or measures that have the potential of leading a person to happiness and freedom. In simple terms, amount of choice refers to the things people seek after in their bid to be happy and gain freedom. Modern World The modern world as used in this context refers to the fast growing world that has been characterized by the abundance of technology, development and wealth; all of which go a long way to making the world an easier and happier place to live in. it must also be stated that the modernity of the world makes the world more and more complex and challenging to live in as a person must live in such a way that equals the rapid ‘positive’ changes that the world is seeing. Failure According to the Macmillan Dictionary (2009), failure is “a lack of success in doing something.” Evaluating this definition, we can say that failure is the denial or refusal to achieve a set goal. This means that when a person pursues a specific course but comes out without achieving the ultimate aim of the course that was pursued, failure has set in. courses of which we pursue in our daily lives includes such basic things as the aspiration to take up a career, sitting for an examination, taking part in a competition, setting off from the house at a defined time, not indulging in a particular lifestyle and so on. Disappointment Disappointment is an expression that people give to events that happen, of which they are not pleased with. Such expressions are characterized by a feeling of sorrow and dissatisfaction. It is also associated with distaste and protest. One clear event of which we often show disappointment towards is failure. Approaches people use to seek freedom and happiness It has been established in the discussion of terms that freedom and happiness are generally positive states of individuals. They also happen to be two of the most sought after states of the individual. For this reason, people use all kind of methodologies and go through all kind of processes to achieve these states of freedom and happiness in today’s modern world. From a psychological view point, there could be two general approaches used by people to seek freedom and happiness. These approaches are positive/acceptable means and negative/unacceptable means. People who seek after positive approaches to gaining happiness and freedom would normally want to settle with a well paying job or career because a lot of people believe that having sufficient wealth to match the demands of the economy makes life comfortable and brings a person freedom from economic hardship (Appiah, 2001, p. 144). Some other people who seek positive approaches to becoming happy and free try to find the mysteries in living a healthy lifestyle. In the view of such people, happiness means good health and freedom from sickness. Yet again, there are those who seek happiness and freedom by resorting to spiritual interventions (Gregory, 2008, p.24). To these people, spiritual sanctity is all they need to be happy. Evaluating these positive scenarios, it could be said that the quest for happiness and freedom takes no specific formulae. Rather, it is subject to people’s individual perception of what would make them happy and free. A lot of these people are to a very large extent accepted by society and their approaches adored because humanity as an entity believes that happiness is form of reward for the hard working. With reference to people who seek happiness and freedom the negative or wrong way, their actions are mostly characterized by violent living and unlawful ways of amassing wealth. The irony is that, both those who use positive approaches and those who use negative approaches believe in wealth as a very strong source of happiness and freedom (Appiah, 2011, p. 152). The difference however is that whereas a person who seeks happiness and freedom through a positive approach would settle in a legal career, the fellow who seeks happiness and freedom would rather settle with an illegal career such as drug trafficking, sale of ammunitions, corruption and terrorism. The psychology behind the actions of these people is that ‘the end justifies the means’. Because of this, this group of persons shows no sympathy whatsoever towards their victims. They also infringe on the definition of freedom as given by Treder (2009) by disregarding the freedoms of other people just because they want to attain their own freedom. The Paradox of Amount of Choice viewed by Freedom and Happiness Seekers The Think Exist (2011) explains a paradox as “a tenet or proposition contrary to received opinion; an assertion or sentiment seemingly contradictory, or opposed to common sense; that which in appearance or terms is absurd, but yet may be true in fact.” Relating the meaning of paradox as explained by Think Exist (2011) to the social economic lifestyle of society today, one clear area that can be pointed out to as people living in a paradox is the idea of amount of choice. As explained earlier, the technological and intellectual advancement of the world today leaves a lot of people with the idea that there are several choices for them to choose from if indeed they are to lead a perceived good life. There are some people who build their idea of choice around automobile, some on computers, others on entertainment and yet again, some who build their choice on fashion. To such people, owning as many of these choices means a happy or free life. Sadly though, their perception only becomes a paradox in the sense that they seem never to have enough of what they seek for. Taking the automobile, technology and fashion worlds as example, it could be seen that day in and out, there is the introduction of new models of cars, computers or dresses. For this reason, any person who envisions the owning of a particular car or computer device or dress only becomes disappointed at the end of the day because even though the fellow may own what he or she dreamed for, the person would only realize that there has been the introduction of a new model and the search much begin again. As confirmed by Psychologist Schwartz (2011), “choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.” This assertion can indeed not be faulted in anyway because the quest to follow one’s freedom of choice is likely to end the person in disappointment and failure in the sense that choices are just becoming to many. In clear cut scenario, a young high school leaver who decides to purchase a laptop would be faced with as many choices from as many companies as possible. The task of settling on which brand to choose from alone is a herculean task. In such a situation, the young fellow has to consider among other things like durability, portability, exquisiteness, popularity among others. Most often than not, after all these dilemmas are overcome and a choice made, it turns out that the selected choice was not as good as was supposed. This situation is the same for a young graduate who decides on the company to work and a manager who decides on a car to buy. The fact therefore remains that in the midst of abundance of choice, there only remains the paradox of choice because the end result has always been disappointment and failure. The end result of people’s search for freedom and happiness Without missing words, people’s search for freedom and happiness has not resulted in them finding what they seek after but rather leading them to a feeling of failure and constant disappointment. Sadly, this does not only apply to those who seek for freedom and happiness the negative way but to those who seek freedom and happiness the right ways always. Researchers have attributed this situation to a number of factors. Firstly, people chase after what does not exist. This is to mean that some people toil so hard to get to a destination where they feel they would reap freedom and happiness, only to get there to realize that there does not exist any freedom or happiness where they were heading towards. A typical scenario is a young graduate who targets earning $10,000 a month as the source of his freedom and happiness and so works so hard to land himself in such a job. But just after the person begins working in such an outfit, the person realizes that after all life is still not rosy with $10,000 a month. In such a situation, the young graduate will become disappointed and have a feeling of failure to attain freedom and happiness. The second factor is that as long as we live, not all people can get to certain status in life and so not all people would have their aspirations fulfilled. This means that there is a natural fate that would forbid some people from getting what they seek therefore they not becoming free and or happy. Lastly, there is always a new standard set in this modern world. As the world continues to become more and advanced, even people who attain their goals would still live to see new inventions they would have to follow. This way, it will hardly be possible that someone would have all he or she wants. Indeed, there will always be the quest for new things that will make people happy and free. Implications of the Paradox of Choice on individuals and businesses There remain various implications of people’ failure to attain freedom and happiness on individuals and businesses. According to the American Society for Quality (2011), “Failures are prioritized according to how serious their consequences are, how frequently they occur and how easily they can be detected.” This is to say that implications of failure on the individual may vary according to the intensity of the failure recorded. For the individual, psychologists warn that in the absence of strong and effective counseling sessions, individuals who are light hearted are likely to take their own lives if they are constantly disappointed or they constantly fail (Koduah, 2007, p. 231). There could also be the creation of low self esteem among people who fail in their attempts to attain happiness and freedom. Such low self esteem is caused when these people continue to compare themselves to others who might be well to do. Thirdly, the individual is likely to give up the fight of ever succeeding in life. Appiah 2001, p.42 notes that even in the midst of failure, life must still go on but individuals to record constant disappointment and failure are likely to give up along the line. Finally, the individual is may acquire psychological and mental sickness out of the shock of failure and disappointment if proper counseling is not given. Businesses also have their own share of the implication of the disappointment and failure people face in their quest to attain happiness and freedom. The first implication for the corporate business world is that as much as people continue to seek to be well do, they will continue to put pressure on the employment market. There will therefore be more job seekers than businesses can actually absorb. This way, expansion of businesses is automatically required. Secondly, the working force who seek to be happy and free to meet the demands of the modern world would continue to put pressure on job owners to increase their remuneration and benefits in order to enable them afford the high cost of living that prevails today. Furthermore, when there abound people who cannot control their ego to be happy and free in corporate business positions, corruption is likely to go up in business settings. Such corrupt practices also have the tendency of collapsing businesses. Finally, there is a positive implication where by in situation whereby there happens to be more people seeking after fewer jobs, business owners would have the opportunity of selecting only the best among the lot to handle their businesses or take up important positions. Conclusion There will continue to be a chase after the modern world with the view of becoming happy and freed. It is important however that people learn to understand that true happiness and freedom comes from within them (Koduah, 2007, p. 123). Each person can learn to be happy and live a free life with no matter how much little he or she has. The true desire therefore should be with how to seek happiness within rather than seeking happiness from external source such as the fast technological advancement. REFERENCE LIST ‘Ego’, Accurate and Reliable Dictionary, 2010, ‘Failure’ Macmillan Dictionary, 2009, Macmillan Publishers Limited: Washington D.C American Society for Quality, 2011, ‘Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)’ accessed July 31, 2011 Appiah K. J, 2001, ‘The way to Happiness’ University Printing Press: Legon, Accra Chapman A., 2010, ‘Maslow’s hierarchy of needs’ accessed July 30, 2011 Gregory F.W.Y, 2008, ‘On the Way to Happiness’ Cita Printing Press: Toronto Koduah I, 2007, ‘Fulfilling the Search for Human Needs’ PrintMark Group Limited: Kumasi Schwartz B., 2011, ‘Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice’, retrieved August 4, 2011 Self Improvement Advice, 2011, ‘Definition of Happiness’ accessed July 31, 2011 Think Exist, 2011, ‘Paradox Meaning and Definition’ accessed August 4, 2011 Treder M. 2009, ‘The Meaning of Freedom’, accessed July 31, 2011 Read More