ESSAYTOPIC (DENEME KONUSU)
“Whatever else happinessmay be, it is neither in havingnor in being, but in becoming. Happiness is in thepursuititself, in themeaningfulpursuit of what is life-engagingand life-revealing, which is to say, in the idea of becoming.”
Bytakingintoconsiderationthequotationgivenabove, write a well-organizedessay (300-350 words),in English, on the idea of happiness. Thequestionsgivenbelowmayhelpyoucontemplate on thetopic.
What is happiness?
How can youdescribe it?
Is it somethingpersonalorsocial?
How is it achieved?
TEXT TO BE TRANSLATED(ÇEVRİLECEK METİN)
Is EverybodyHappy?
Weseemto be dedicatedtothe idea of buyingourwaytohappiness. Weshallallhavemade it toHeavenwhenwepossessenough. On theotherhand, theforces of commercialismarehugelydedicatedtomaking us deliberatelyunhappy. Advertising is one of ourmajorindustries, andadvertisingexists not tosatisfydesires but tocreatethem. Forthatmatter, ourwholeeconomy is based on a dedicatedinsatiability.Wearetaughtthattopossess is to be happy, andthenwearemadetowant.
The idea “happiness,” to be sure, will not sit stillforeasydefinition: thebestone can do is tryto set someextremestothe idea andthenwork in towardthemiddle.Tothink of happiness as acquisitiveandcompetitivewill do to set thematerialisticextreme. Tothink of it as the idea onesenses in, say, a holyman of Indiawill do to set thespiritualextreme. Is he a happyman? Perhaps his happiness is onlyanothersort of illusion. What is certain is that his way of happinesswould be torturetoalmostany Western man. Yet theseextremeswillstillservetoframetheareawithinwhichall of us mustfindsomesort of balance.
Effort is thegist of happiness. There is nohappinessexcept as wetake on life-engagingdifficulties. Thesatisfactionswegetfrom a lifetimedepend on how highwechooseourdifficulties.Themortalflaw in theadvertisedversion of happiness is in thefactthat it purportsto be effortless.Wedemanddifficultyeven in ourgames. Wedemand it becausewithoutdifficultythere can be nogame. A game is a way of makingsomething hard forthefun of it.Therules of thegameare an arbitraryimposition of difficulty. No difficulty, nofun.
Thebuyersandsellers at thehappiness-market seemtoooftentohavelosttheir sense of thepleasure of difficulty.It is hard toknowwhattheyareplaying, but it seems a dullgame. AndtheIndianholymanseemsdullto us because he seemsto be refusingtoplayanything at all.The Western weaknessmay be in theillusionthathappiness can be bought. PerhapstheEasternweakness is in the idea thatthere is such a thing as perfecthappiness.
Happiness is nevermorethanpartial. Therearenopurestates of mankind. Whatever else happinessmay be, it is neither in havingnor in being, but in becoming.Happiness is in thepursuititself, in themeaningfulpursuit of what is life-engagingand life-revealing, which is to say, in the idea of becoming. A nation is not measuredbywhat it possessesorwantstopossess, but bywhat it wantstobecomeandultimately, bywhat it has become.
Adaptedfrom “Is EverybodyHappy?” By John Ciardi