Happiness, to me, also seems like such a false goal. Happiness is, and should be, a fleeting sensation.
I think the term we generally really mean when we say happiness is contentedness. Because that is more a state of being than some temporary sensation.
And far from just a semantic difference, I think this opens up an entirely different life perspective because it's much more about controlling your response to things, particularly those outside your control than it is about pursuing some carrot of happiness that will always slip away as quickly as it comes.
The Stoics referred to this state of mind as apatheia [1]. It's not apathy, which has the connotation of indifference, but rather the freedom from one's emotions so you can guide your life without being pulled in a million different, and oft irrational, ways by emotion.
I think the term we generally really mean when we say happiness is contentedness. Because that is more a state of being than some temporary sensation.
And far from just a semantic difference, I think this opens up an entirely different life perspective because it's much more about controlling your response to things, particularly those outside your control than it is about pursuing some carrot of happiness that will always slip away as quickly as it comes.
The Stoics referred to this state of mind as apatheia [1]. It's not apathy, which has the connotation of indifference, but rather the freedom from one's emotions so you can guide your life without being pulled in a million different, and oft irrational, ways by emotion.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatheia