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Josh Holbrook
Humanities 1100
December 14, 2016
Final Project
Exploring Happiness
For my room in the museum, I would like to explore ideas on happiness. Happiness is
something that we all want and yet so many individuals are unhappy. As each person enters the
room they will be given a headset which will provide narration for all of the exhibits as they
explore the room. In the center of the room I would like to have the statue The Thinker by
Auguste Rodin. When the audience walks into the room this will be the first thing they see. This
statue represents thought and philosophy. When considering ideas on what happiness is, it is
required to be philosophical and introspective. Having this statue would encourage the viewer of
the museum to carry this mindset. In the room I would like to display concepts and philosophies
on happiness. My goal is to expand the viewer's ideas on what it means to be happy and help
them decide for themselves what happiness is.
I would like to display the ideas of Greek philosophers on pleasure versus virtue in
regards to happiness. So many religious and secular concepts on happiness stem from Greek
philosophy. It's important that my room includes their beliefs. By displaying these schools of
philosophy, along with some modern theories on happiness, I hope to show the viewer the wide
variety of ideas on what it means to be happy.

Cynicism was founded by greek philosopher Antisthenes. Cynics believe that the
meaning of life is obtaining virtue, when virtue is obtained then you have happiness. They
believed in living an extremely simple life and only eating the bare minimum that was needed to
survive. To display their concepts I will have a life sized sculpture of an extremely skinny man
dressed in ragged clothes. This statue will be holding an open scroll facing the viewer with the
scroll being read aloud.
Next I would like to display stoicism. Stoics believe that nothing materialistic is needed
in order to be happy. They believe life itself is suffering and that it should be expected. When
misfortune happens it's important to not let that disturb your peace of mind and dictate your
happiness. To show stoic concepts I will have a description written on the wall summarizing
what stoicism is. Around this description, I want to encourage every viewer of the museum to
write on the wall with black markers (which will be provided) words that come to mind when
they think of stress, anger and sadness. I would imagine some of those words would be money,
addiction, time, conflict, death and so on. Seeing what themselves and others have written will
show the viewer the stoic principle that life is suffering and we can't let those words written on
the wall dictate our happiness.
Epicureanism is the ideas and teaching of the greek philosopher Epicurus. His philosophy
was to indulge in pleasures that come your way but not let pleasures drive you. Epicurus
believed that all desires could be put into three categories. First are natural and necessary desires
like food, water and shelter. Second are the natural but unnecessary desires such as sex. The third
are desires that are unnatural and unnecessary like wealth, power and social status. Epicures
teaches that the desires that are unnatural and unnecessary are what limits life's pleasures and

bring pain. In this section of my happiness room, there would be a large collage of pictures
depicting each one of these categories along with a description of epicurus's ideas on how to live
happily.
Hedonism states that the way to happiness is by obtaining as many sensory pleasures as
possible. Greek philosopher Aristippus was a famous advocate for hedonism. He believed that
sensory pleasure is the most intense form of pleasure. He would argue that far more pleasure
comes from carnal indulgence than virtue or potential pleasure. Along with a description of
hedonism, I would like to display objects that represent its concepts such as money, lavish
clothing, a crown to represent power, pictures of luscious food and the sculpture The Kiss by
Auguste Rodin.
Following the displays of the Greek philosophies on happiness I would like to have an
exhibit presenting the ideas in the text Record Of The Ten-Foot Square Hut. This text is about
a man named Kamo no Chomei who finds his happiness through retiring to nature and living in a
ten foot square hut. In the museum I would like to have an actual 10 foot square hut on display.
Inside the hut it will be furnished just as his hut was in the story, with a bed made of ferns in one
corner and a hanging shelf made of bamboo on another wall. On the shelf will be three leather
boxes with books in them. The viewer is encouraged to sit inside the hut and imagine what it
would be like to live in these conditions. A speaker will then say the following words from the
story, If the mind is not at ease then the finest horses and elephants all seem worthless, and
palaces, pleasure towers hold no allure. (Chomei pg. 890)
A modern philosophy of happiness is known as the hedonic treadmill. This theory is,
when people have positive or negative events in their life they quickly return back to their

normal level of happiness. For example when a person gets a raise, for a short amount of time
they will in fact be happier, but will shortly be just as happy as they were before the raise. On the
other hand, if a person gets laid off from their job they are going to be less happy for a short
period of time. But just like when a good life event happens, they return to their normal state of
happiness. In the museum this theory would also be illustrated as the viewer looks at a
mannequin of a businessman on a treadmill with money in front of him.
For the final display in my happiness room I would like to have The Happiness Project
Manifesto by Gretchen Rubin displayed. This manifesto contains seventeen things that Rubin
believes make you happy in life. One of the most beneficial assignments I have done was the
journal I did for this class where I made my own happiness manifesto. By writing down the
points I thought were necessary for happiness, I was able to maintain happiness in my own life.
My goal in having the manifesto displayed is to encourage the viewer to find the specific things
they personally feel are necessary to obtain happiness. There will be a variety of brightly colored
markers available for the viewer and they will be asked to write on this wall any words that come
to their mind when they think of happiness. It will be a huge, colorful happiness manifesto that
will leave the visitor thinking about what brings happiness to them.
What it means to be happy and how it's obtained is a question that has intrigued humanity
from its beginnings. By displaying Greek philosophers ideas on happiness, I feel the viewer will
be able to recognize that almost all philosophies on happiness have their origins here. The text
Record Of The Ten-Foot Square Hut challenges the viewer's ideas on needing comfort and
possessions to be happy. The hedonic treadmill is an important concept to keep in mind when
going about life. This theory shows we can't chase after things or events to have happiness, we

need to find our happiness at its core. The Happiness Project Manifesto by Gretchen Rubin
helps the viewer break down what they feel is necessary to have happiness. In the museum, I
hope to show the viewer that there is no single path to happiness. Happiness is a concept that we
need to explore as we discover for ourselves what it means to be happy.