The Importance of Happiness

During the first week of the Utopia intensive, I have come to learn the importance of happiness. We have been examining if and how a utopia is possible, and the requirements needed to create one. There is one requirement that seems the hardest to fulfill; that requirement is bliss. It seems that the closest thing to this utopia (that we have examined thus far) is the Amish community. The Amish community puts all their faith into God and thus, eliminates a wide range of unhappiness that occurs in today's society. This discontent occurs due to a lack of control in the outcome of one’s life. The Amish are also a voluntary community, meaning that in order to be a citizen or member of the church, the person has to decide for themselves, if this difficult God-trusting lifestyle makes them happy and will continue to make them happy throughout their lives. Due to the voluntary nature of the community, each person makes the decision based on their beliefs and joy which allows for the mass contentment and lack of revolt within the communities, which are present throughout the United States. Although, there is a lack of rebellion and unhappiness, there is still a sense of displeasure within the community due to financial, health, or other unsatisfactory results within one’s life. I feel as though, throughout my studies, I have come to the conclusion that a utopia is merely a figment of one's imagination and is an unrealistic idea in today's society due to the inability to produce happiness that intoxicates each and every citizen.