Happiness: History

The modern idea of happiness was an invention of the Enlightenment.
15. Happiness: History (The Economist January 14th 2006)
by Darrin M. McMahon. Atlantic Monthly Press; 544pages

A Strangely newfangled idea

15-1-62

It was 1963 and the atmosphere at the State Mutual Life Assurance Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, was tense. Workers fretted about an approaching merger with another company. Who would stay and who would get the heave-ho? So the management commissioned an advertising man by the name of Harvey R. Ball to come up with something cheerful to smooth wrinkled brows and make the whole merger process a little more bearable for everyone.
Ball's brilliantly simple solution--a big yellow dot with a pair of black ovals for eyes and a wide semicircle for a mouth--went on to become one of the most distinctive icons of the 20th century. 'Smiley face' buttons, T-shirts and bumper stickers were soon selling in their tens of millions all around the world. But was Ball smiling? Grinning through gritted teeth, more like. Never having filed trademark or copyright papers, he had to make do with his original fee of $45.
This is just one of many ironies in Darrin MacMahon's excellent history of happiness. His central argument is that the modern idea of happiness was an invention of the Enlightenment. The idea of heavenly felicity came down to earth, says Mr MacMhon, during the 17th and 18th centuries. 'Happiness, in the Enlightenment view', he explains, 'was less an ideal of godlike perfection than a self-evident truth, to be pursued and obtained in the here and now.' In 1776 America's Founding Fathers declared 'the pursuit of happiness' to be one of man's 'unalienable rights', along with life and liberty.

A. 어휘
newfangle 새로운 것. 신 유행.
a strangely newfangled idea 이상하게 새로이 유행되는 아이디어.
atmosphere 분위기, 大氣(대기). mutual life assurance 상호생명보험.
fret 초조해 하다. merger 合倂(합병). heave-ho 解雇(해고). management 경영자 측.
commission 임명하다, 委任(위임)하다. come up with 제안하다.
wrinkled brows 주름진 이마. bearable 견딜 수 있는. dot 작은 알갱이, 꼬마.
oval 타원형. go on to+V 계속 ...하다. distinctive 구별되는, 독특한.
tens of millions 수천만의. grin (이를 드러내고) 씩(방긋, 히죽히죽)웃다.
grit 모래, 모래를 뿌리다, 삐걱거리다.
grinning through gritted teeth. 모래를 씹는 것처럼 쓴웃음을 웃고 있었을 것이다.
more like 아마도. file 서류를 제출하다. trademark 상표. copyright 판권. papers 서류.
make do 잔치하다. the Enlightenment 啓蒙思想(계몽사상). felicity 至福(지복), 축복.
godlike perfection 神과 같은 완벽성. self-evident 自明(자명)한 진리.
pursue 추구하다. obtain 획득하다. here and now 지금 당장.
Founding Fathers 건국의 아버지들. declare 발표하다, 宣布(선포)하다.
unalienable rights 양도할 수 없는 권리.

B. 구문
-Ball's brilliantly simple solution. . . icons of the 20th century.
[Ball의 눈부시도록 간단한 해결책--눈을 나타내는 한 쌍의 검은 색 타원형과 입을 나타내는 넓은 半圓(반원)이 그려져 있는 노란 색깔의 꼬마그림--20세기의 가장 유명한 아이콘 중의 하나가 되었다.]
-Never having filed→ As he had never filed
-Happiness. . . in the here and now. cf. less A than B, A라기보다는 B 이다.
[계몽사상의 관점에서 보면 행복은 神적인 완벽성의 理想이라기보다는 지금 당장 추구하고 획득해야될 자명한 진리였다.]

15-2-63
Historically speaking, this was a radical change. For the ancient Greeks, happiness was largely bound up with notions of luck and fortune. Any man, however high and mighty, could be brought down by a twist of fate. The important thing, therefore, was not to seek happiness for its own sake but to live virtuously. Being good, as MacMahon nicely puts it, was more important than feeling good. For Herodotus and his contemporaries, happiness was not a 'subjective state' but a 'characterisation of an entire life that can be only reckoned by at death.'
Later, Christianity would play down fortune and fate while holding out the promise of eternal happiness in the next life. With the Enlightenment, the idea that God was happiness morphed into the idea that happiness was god. By the 1840s the distinguished Scottish curmudgeon Thomas Carlyle was complaining: 'Every pitifulest whipster that walks within a skin has had filled with the notion that he is, shall be, or by all human and divine laws ought to be, 'happy'.' It is good that Carlyle did not live to see the self-help section of any big 21st-century bookshop, its shelves groaning with bestsellers like 'Infinite Happiness', 'Absolute Happiness', 'Everlasting Happiness', 'Compulsory Happiness', 'Happiness is Your Destiny' and 'Find Happiness In Everything You Do'.

A. 어휘
radical 급진적인, 근본적인. bind-bound-bound 묶다.
be bound up with ...와 밀접한 관계가 있다. notion 개념, 관념. 견해.
luck and fortune 행운과 운명. mighty 강한, 위대한.
however high and mighty=however high and mighty he might be 그가 아무리 지위가 높고 강력하더라도.
a twist of fate 운명의 뒤틀림.
happiness for its own sake 행복자체를 위한 행복. live virtuously 덕이 높게 살다.
as MacMahon nicely puts it, MacMahon이 적절하게 언급하고 있는바와 같이.
contemporary 同時代人(동시대인). subjective state 주관적인 (감정)상태.
reckon 決算(결산)하다, 평가하다. characterization 성격묘사.
hold out 제출하다, 내밀다. eternal 영원한. morphed into 로 변형되다.
distinguished 저명한. curmudgeon 심술궂은 구두쇠. complain 불평하다.
whipster 채찍을 사용하는 사람. pitiful 가련한.
whipster that walks within a skin 자신만을 위해 정신 없이 살아가는 사람.
divine 神의, 신성한. self-help 자립.
self-help section (서점의) 행복을 위한 자기수련관련 책을 진열해 놓은 구역.
shelf 선반. groan (과도한 짐을 지고)끙끙거리다. infinite 無限(무한)의.
absolute 절대적인. everlasting 영구히 계속되는. compulsory 강제적인, 필수적인.
destiny 운명.

B. 구문
-Historically speaking→If we speak historically.
-a 'characterisation of . . . only by at death.
[죽음에 이르러서만 평가될 수 있는 어떤 인물에 대한 종합적인 평가.]
-Every pitifulest whipster that. . . ought to be, 'happy'.'
cf. shall be happy,행복할 것이로다. shall: 예언, 법률에 쓰이는 조동사. ...할 것이다. 해야한다.
[자신만을 위해 바쁘게 살아가는 모든 가련한 사람들은 자신은 행복하며 행복할 것이며 모든 인간과 신의 율법에 의해 당연히 행복해야된다는 생각으로 머리를 채우고 있다.]

15-3-64
Carlyle was right to suspect that the new doctrine of happiness tended to raise unrealistic expectations, and his perception is still spot-on. Living standards and life expectancy are better than ever and a multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical industry provides chemical solutions to gloomy moods. But are we really happier now than we were in Carlyle's day--or, for that matter, in Herodotus?
Mr MacMahon sensibly does not try to define happiness and, in presenting the theories of great figures of the past, he does not take sides between them. He does, however, show particular sympathy for the views of John Stuart Mill. 'Those only are happy', Mill reckoned, who have their minds fixed on some object rather than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way.'
Fair enough. But if Mill's suggestion that happiness is to be found 'by the way' is a bit too hit-and-miss for your liking, then you might try religion. Or sex. Or shopping.
Or work. Or booze. Or Prozac. Or even sitting down with a good book.

A. 어휘
suspect 의심하다, 낌새채다. doctrine 원리, 학설. tend to+V ...하는 경향이 있다.
unrealistic expectation 비현실적인 기대. perception 知覺(지각), 생각.
spot-on 꼭 맞는. life expectancy 평균수명. than ever 과거 어느 때 보다도.
pharmaceutical 製藥(제약)의, 藥學(약학)의. billion 10억.
a multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical industry 연 매출 수 십억 달러의 제약산업(회사).
gloomy 우울한. sensibly 현명하게. define 정의하다. in presenting 제시함에 있어서. theory 이론, 학설. figure (역사상의) 인물, 거물, 저명인사. take sides 편 들다.
particular 특별한. sympathy 共感(공감), 同感(동감). reckon 판단하다, 평가하다.
have their minds fixed on some object than their own happiness. 그들 자신의 행복보다는 어떤 목적에 마음을 고정시키다. cf. have+ 목적어+과거분사→ ...하도록 시키다. ex. I have my car repaired. 차를 고쳤다. aim at ...에 목표를 두다.
by the way (다른 어떤 것을 하는) 도중에 (행복을 발견한다).
hit-and-miss= hit or miss 맞건 안 맞건, 성패를 운에 마지고, 돼가는 대로.
booze 술, 술잔치. Prozac 우울증 치료제.

B. 구문
-followed not as means. . . an ideal end.
cf. followed not→which is not followed
[수단으로서가 아니고 그 자체로서 이상적인 목적으로 추구되는 (어떤 행복추구의 대상).]
-But if Mill's suggestion. . . for your liking,
cf. be+to+V→ 의무(should), 가능(can), 예정(will), 운명.
ex. No one was to be seen.=No one could be seen.
[행복은 목적추구의 도중(과정)에서 찾아야 한다는 Mill의 제안이 너무 恣意的(자의적)이라서 마음에 들지 않는다면 ]
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