【Reported by Ye Shuying】Fairy tales always end with “… and the prince and the princess lived happily ever after.” Happiness may be what everyone longs for, but, in reality, it could be a lost dream. Therefore, how should one construct true happiness? The Preparatory Office chose to hold the 18th session of the Philosopher’s Cafe on December 17, near the end of the year 2011, using the format of a workshop and philosophical dialectic, to discuss the conditions of happiness.

The dialogue opened with Professor Gu’s question on the definition of happiness. Some believed that happiness meant freedom or independence. Some suggested family reunion. Others were of the opinion that it is a mental state. 

Professor Gu first asked attendees to form groups of two for discussion and to reach a consensus on the “conditions of happiness.” She then combined three groups into a team to again delve into the “conditions of happiness” and to reach a consensus.

After sharing each team’s consensus and some discussion, the teams focused on the “conditions of happiness” from the perspectives of finance, health, and relationships.

For example, what kind of financial conditions delineate happiness? The answers ranged from financial independence to basic needs, to “a place to live, clothes to wear, and food to eat.” An attendee presented a unique view regarding the relationship between finance and happiness. She stated that money eventually will belong to other people. If the pursuit of money will turn into other people’s happiness, then we will gain happiness. If the pursuit of money makes others miserable, then we will gain misery.

Next, Professor Gu took the discussion a step further and asked attendees to examine whether living below subsistence level will make people unhappy? Does the same principle also apply to the happiness conditions of health and relationships? Participants reinvestigated whether it is true that without satisfying these surface conditions we would live in unhappiness.

Finally, Professor Gu asked the participants to put aside the above conditions and to seek, from a personal perspective, any other conditions that bring forth the feeling of happiness. ns. Without the principle of consensus-building with others, everyone shared their personal definition of happiness. The conditions of happiness, under such principle, became wider and richer; many details of daily living and life experiences all surfaced as conditions and feelings of happiness. Some attendee pointed out that at different stages of life, through experiences and maturity, different facets of happiness can be realized. To conclude the workshop, Professor Gu shared several philosophers’ views on the goals of happiness for everyone to take into consideration. 

Who can control the secret code of happiness? Can we really actualize happiness through the scrutiny of its conditions? The cohesion of inner happiness and external conditions will be a continuing lesson for attendees to pursue. It is also a gift of “coffee for the mind” from Professor Gu for the year 2011.