“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Most Americans are familiar with these words, even if they don’t know that they are contained in the introduction to the Declaration of Independence, the statement announcing that, in 1776, the 13 American colonies were now independent and no longer under British rule. These powerful words, and the concepts behind them, helped to establish a platform based on democratic principles in the United States of America and elsewhere in the world.

The concept of happiness has evolved significantly since 1776. Now we often relate the thought of happiness with living “the good life,” a concept that has been hijacked by advertisers and portrayed as a life in which we seek pleasure, relaxation, and, of course, material goods. Our postmodern society has told us that we can achieve happiness through consumption. Society has made us think that: If only...I had a bigger house, a better car, more money, and a better job, I would be fulfilled.

But more choices and more personal freedom to choose have led to higher expectations that, in turn, have led to never being satisfied with what we have! We think we want more, but when we get it, it is not enough. “Enough” becomes a moving target. In the pursuit of the “if only,” we have sacrificed our relationships, our health, and our sanity.

We’ve also been taught that we should expect to have it all and we should expect to have it now. In other words, we are driven by instant gratification—and justify it with thoughts like, “just put it on credit,” “there’s no need to earn the money today,” “pay for it later.” Not just individuals but cities, states, and nations have embraced and become addicted to this belief as well.

Even the relentless pursuit of pleasure and power has shown itself to be short-lived because pleasure and power are founded on the same “if only I had more” logic. Left unchecked, these motivational forces comprise a vicious cycle and manifest themselves as an endless—and joyless—undertaking much like that experienced by the Greek hero Sisyphus, who was ordered by the gods to push for eternity a big rock uphill only to see it slip out of his hands in the very last moment and roll down the hill once more.

Years ago, the Greek philosophers encouraged us to live the so-called “good life,” but what they really meant was the complete life, the meaningful life. They suggested, among other things, that we strive to build our character, virtues, or excellences. Importantly, they encouraged us to do so not only to benefit ourselves but also to benefit all of society. Aristotle, for instance, believed that the greatest virtues are those that are most useful to others.

The commonly heard phrase “living the good life,” in this context, means that we are acting well and living for society, not just for........

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