The pursuit of happiness is a flat line that gobbles up your time, that may or may not in the end deliver. The pursuit of happiness as a philosophic aim...in the end is limited. Happiness, in the broadest sense, should never be the solitary aim.
The simpler the outlook, the easier the happiness. The more complex, the more elusive. Shall we limit ourselves, our ever-growing awareness, simply to achieve a dull contentment, the dull contentment of an animal with a full belly, and the innocent, the naïve sleep which it accompanies? Let me be alone with my ideas; let me ponder on a half-empty(half-full) belly.
The dull smile of a full belly offers its own rewards, to be sure. And, to be sure, it lasts so long as the mind remains inactive, running on the same old gasoline, following the same tired track--with a belly full of happiness, a life devoid of bile, which never truly sees a thing, and(as a result) is undisturbed.