Enneads I 4: On True Happiness

[sdi]

I found this tractate of the Enneads to be very difficult: it is hard to keep track of Plotinus as he meanders and argues, even though his destination seems clear enough. (Or perhaps my brain is simply exhausted from other causes!) But I have by now spent too long on it and must move on lest I lose all momentum. I hope my poor summary, which ignores most of his arguments and focuses on his conclusions, does not do too great a disservice to the Philosopher.

I 4: On True Happiness

Let us consider a musician and his lyre. It is the lyre that sings sweetly, but can it be considered to be happy? No, it is the musician that can be happy, and the lyre is a mere instrument of that happiness.

But let us suppose that the lyre is out of tune or even broken: does this mean the musician is unhappy? Well, maybe, but not necessarily: perhaps it was broken in his absence and he is not even aware of it, or perhaps he sings on even without an instrument, or perhaps he has grown tired of playing and now expresses himself through some other craft. But even in this last case, the musician does not disdain the lyre—it is simply not useful to him any more!

In the same way, while pleasure and contentment are properties that may be possessed by bodies—even such bodies as plants and animals—True Happiness is a property of the soul, and being of the soul it is found solely within and is not subject to the vagaries of without. But even the Truly Happy who has moved on from the desires of the body should not disdain it: it was useful once, but now the soul has grown tired of it and merely wishes to pursue other ends.