Can You Be Too Happy?

When Jefferson used the phrase "pursuit of happiness" he and all of his readers would have known that he was referring to the ability to live a virtuous life. The signers clearly intended to create an orderly, free society and saw this as a necessary condition for the encouragement of virtue which would lead to happiness. The modern, hedonistic interpretation of the phrase would have appalled both he and the other signers.

When Jefferson used the phrase "pursuit of happiness" all of the readers of that phrase would have understood that he was referring to a number of authors who equated that with the ability to pursue virtue since only an orderly state could promote virtue and only the virtuous could know happiness. The modern hedonistic interpretation of the phrase would have appalled Jefferson and the signers.

I agree that the author might want to look at his definitions. Not everyone prioritizes $8k and job success as highly. I'm not sure why volunteer work is lumped in with "impractical" behavior given the wide ranging civic good it does. Also, I suspect that he's making some mistaken assumptions about how the "blissful" people got so happy to begin with; I doubt it was through, "the quest for a constant state of happiness," or, "obsessive, hedonistic thrill seeking."

So, for only an annual $8K hit I could cross the line from Content to Blissful? Where do I sign?

I think this author needs to re-evaluate his definition of "success" and "happiness."