Introduction
Critically contemplating being called a human, one may not hesitate to concur with other prominent philosophers that humans have been programmed to external search for happiness. Happiness in this world is unquestionably the teleological end of every action of a human being. It is the highest goal of humans and the state is established to make its citizens attain their goals. However, Aristotle believes that happiness may only exist in a nation if virtue flourishes. Attainment of the flow’s state is a key driver of happiness. Flow generates positive feelings; while long-term benefits may assist one live a happier and more fulfilling life. Hence, finding flow is the key to striking a balance between the challenge and one’s skills. The essay makes proof of how the flow state’s conception of happiness is similar to Aristotle’s conception of happiness. Aristotle’s concept of happiness is an expression of virtue that is similar to the flow state, happiness is a combination of the baseline level where basic needs are fulfilled and a broader area managed by an individual.
Discussion
Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi studied and observed the psychological concept of the flow state concerning happiness. Csikszentmihalyi claimed that happiness is not rigid rather it is a blend of a baseline level in which basic needs are met and a wider area managed by a person (Golden, 2018). After a person gains a little beyond the level of average poverty, their material resources do not influence how happy they feel. Hence, one thinks that to be happier one needs to have a higher salary or a nicer house is wrong. In many instances, individual happiness emanated from within a person. In congruence with this argument, Aristotle noted that people can understand and know things and recommends that it is their nature to desire understanding and knowledge (Aristotle’s Psychology, n.d.). Individuals in life find true satisfaction during the consciousness state referred to as flow. In this state, they are wholly absorbed in a task, mostly a task that entails their innovative abilities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). In this optimal experience, people feel strong, alert, perfect, and at the top of their capabilities.
Csikszentmihalyi is widely seen as one of the inspiring forces behind positive psychology based on one focus on happiness and creativity. Csikszentmihalyi always mentions the origins of positive psychology back in Aristotle’s times (Waterman, 1990). Csikszentmihalyi maintains that happiness does not just occur if one wants to know how to flow, then one can expect to be happy practically regardless of the circumstance. It should be prepared for and cultivated by an individual, by creating challenges that are neither simple nor demanding for a person’s abilities (Aristotle’s Psychology, n.d.). Aristotle’s conception of happiness concurs with these as being is the flow state, which in the sense of balancing both self-enlightenment and leisure understanding.
Further, Csikszentmihalyi observed that optimal experience or happiness as self-reported by individuals in much social-scientific research, does not emanate from where they frequently contemplate it does, in free leisure time. For example, when a person is watching TV is related to mild depression (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). However, the optimal experiences of an individual’s life happen when in the flow state, where a person is involved in a challenging task that has clear objectives and feedback and needs ever more skill and total focus (BPsySc, 2019). In this state of flow, a person is swept into an almost endless loss of self-consciousness state. This agrees with the classical concept of happiness from the perspective of Aristotle that leisure is understandable and the basic thing in life. Aristotle argues that the four disciplines of leisure, drawing, reading and writing, physical training, and music, can develop a person’s mind and personality (Golden, 2018). Aristotle affirmed that practicing leisure may bring happiness to one’s life.
Moreover, the mind is described as part of the soul by which it understands and knows. Aristotle argues that people should plan and have deliberate contemplation about alternatives and strategize, and chart a course of action. According to the theory of Aristotle, concentrating on the perfection of given leisure may develop one’s flow in life (Waterman, 1990). In agreeing with Csikszentmihalyi’s observation and claims, Aristotle noted that flow improves a person’s mind from the work or leisure influence generating an optimal experience of happiness. This state of flow establishes a blissful emotion and no worries which, in modern society have contributed to a lack of confidence and anxiety (BPsySc, 2019). The modern era way of gaining happiness has been focused on material possession because of the media and its financial gain agenda. Currently, people are being negatively influenced by material possessions leading most of them to develop mental illnesses like chronic pain, depression, and toxic relationships. According to Robert Stebbins, attaining the state of flow is always challenging because of external distractions (McBryde, 2010). In this modern era, there are distractions like psychological pain or trauma, technology, the economic standard of work and education, and peers. All of these drain a person’s energy and loss the flow’s balance. Csikszentmihalyi stated that if one understands how to flow, one might expect to experience happiness regardless of what will be going through comprising during serious conflict times. However, in the conception of happiness in the current world a majority of them still perceive happiness as a possession but ignore that this influences them negatively (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Hence, being in the flow state, this in the sense is striking a balance between self-enlightenment and leisure understanding.
However, Aristotle’s concept of happiness’s key element is virtue. He argued that in pursuing happiness, the most significant aspect is having complete virtue. Aristotle further noted that happiness entails selecting the greater good but not necessarily having short-term or immediate pleasure; thus happiness is a goal and not a temporal flow state (BPsySc, 2019). How people feel concerning themselves, and the happiness they get from living, depends on how their minds filter and interpret daily experiences. The inner harmony determines whether people are happy, not on the controls they can exert over the great forces of the world (Golden, 2018). Hence, happy life entails a life full of the types of tasks that crowd negative emotional disorders and order consciousness optimally. Csikszentmihalyi has illustrated how to attain the state of flow via sports, music, sex, tasting, and dance, through career and work at all the social strata levels, through solitude times and with other persons, and even during tragedy chaos. The main factor to flow is control in the flow-like state, people should exercise control over their consciousness contents other than allowing themselves to be passively measured by external factors. This aligns with Aristotle’s belief that happiness is the ultimate human good; therefore, it is an ultimate educational goal (Waterman, 1990). Happiness is carrying out any pleasing task even when the disordered chaos and mental evil cannot be held at bay.
Conclusion
In conclusion, most people as the innermost inspiration in which people are completely centered describe the flow state of an activity or situation at hand. However, each person may encounter a state of flow under different situations and activities. The activities that one may experience flow under can be different from the activities that would make another person encounter similar levels of flow. Therefore, remaining steadfast with the state of flow, experiencing oneself in contemplation, and practicing leisure may lead to a sufficiently positive effect on the civilization and rediscovery of the happiness conception.
References
Aristotle’s Psychology. (n.d.). Aristotle’s Psychology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Web.
BPsySc, H. C. (2019). The philosophy of happiness in life (+ Aristotle’s View). Web.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper & Row.
Golden, L. (2018). Modern psychological conceptions of happiness and the classical idea of happiness. Web.
McBryde, D. (2010). The foundations of Aristotle’s ethics. Web.
Waterman, A. S. (1990). The relevance of Aristotle’s conception of eudaimonia for the psychological study of happiness. Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology, 10(1), 39–44.