Satisfied people are content with their lot. They have a favorable impression of their lives and do not suffer excessively from anxiety, alienation, frustration, disappointment, or depression. They may face problems but overall see more positives than negatives.
The crucial point is that how one achieves satisfaction differs from person to person. One individual may be satisfied only by earning ten million dollars. Another may be satisfied by going every day with friends to a favorite club to swim, eat lunch, and play cards. Another may be satisfied by acting in community theater productions. One path is as good as another so long as contentment is found.
We are reminded of the true story of the young man who was complaining that he couldn’t find an appropriate woman to marry. When asked whether any of his friends had been more fortunate, he replied with a touch of disdain that one had married recently but that the woman he had married was not pretty. Someone listening to the conversation then asked, “Does your friend find this woman attractive?” The young man replied, “Yes, very much so.” To which the questioner responded, “That’s all that matters. What you think is of no account.”
Some may be poor, yet satisfied. Others may be alone, yet satisfied. Still others may find satisfaction regardless of the depth of their learning or self-knowledge and irrespective of whatever illness or disability they may face. In any case, the judgment of satisfaction is the individual’s, not anyone else’s.
Does satisfaction depend on achieving one’s goals? Not necessarily. You may achieve your aims only to find that doing so does not provide the satisfaction for which you had hoped. For example, you might eagerly seek and gain admission to a prestigious college only to find that its rural location, which seemed an advantage when you applied, turns out to be a disadvantage when you develop interests better pursued in an urban environment.
Furthermore, some people don’t have specific goals. They can happily live here or there, engage in a wide variety of hobbies, or even pursue various careers. They find delight in spontaneity. Perhaps that approach to life doesn’t appeal to you, but so what? If it works for others, why not let them have their enjoyment without derogating it?
How fortunate that not everyone seeks satisfaction in the same ways. Suppose everyone wanted to become a lawyer, live in Vermont, or vacation at the same beach. Fortunately, such is not the case.
Finding satisfaction is not easy. Consider Hume’s account of the sixteenth-century emperor Charles V of Spain, who “tired with human grandeur … resigned all his extensive dominions into the hands of his son. In the last harangue which he made on that memorable occasion, he publicly avowed,
that the greatest prosperities that he had ever enjoyed, had been mixed with so many adversities, that he might truly say he had never enjoyed any satisfaction or contentment.”
1In case you might suppose that a life with intellectual accomplishment would be more satisfactory, consider Hume’s account of Cicero, whose “fortune, from small beginnings, rose to the greatest luster and renown; yet what pathetic complaints of the ills of life do his familiar letters, as well as philosophical discourses, contain?”
2How do you achieve satisfaction, considering that it has eluded so many, including powerful kings and eminent thinkers? Both Epicurus and Koheleth offer similar suggestions. They agree that the key to satisfaction lies within yourself, because you cannot control the events outside you. If your satisfaction depends on whether others praise you, then they control how satisfied you will be with your life. If you wish to avoid being subject to the power of others, then you have to free yourself from dependence on their judgments.
Perhaps some, such as Philippa Foot, will be unimpressed when they “look back on the life of a man or woman who has in fact spent a lifetime in childish pursuits.”
3 Who is to say, however, which pursuits are “childish”? How about collecting dolls, telling jokes, planting vegetables, selling cookies, running races, recounting adventures, or singing songs? While children engage in all these activities, so do adults, who may thereby find satisfaction in their lives. Why disparage them or their interests?
An activity that one individual believes fatuous may satisfy another. Metaphysical inquiry, for instance, is engrossing for some, but to a tough-minded business executive may seem a waste of time, providing no insight into acquiring wealth or influence. A philosopher of art may wish to develop an aesthetic analysis of Francis Ford Coppola’s
The Godfather, whereas a historian of the film industry may be far more interested in learning the story of the struggles behind the movie’s production, including the extraordinary means by which powerful attorney Sidney Korshak arranged for Al Pacino, who was under contract to MGM, to star in a production by rival Paramount.
4 Some may not even want to know such sordid details, while others will relish them. Both, however, can find satisfaction in pursuing their respective interests.
Obituaries provide information about people’s lives, detailing their accomplishments. What we don’t learn therein, however, is whether a particular person’s life brought satisfaction. Granted contentment and success may sometimes go together, but, given the choice, would you rather die unhappy with many credits, or happy without much acclaim? Both Epicurus and Koheleth make the case for choosing the latter option. We find their outlook sagacious.
