2. Might happiness not be the satisfaction of the desire of living and
activity, inasmuch as this desire is ever present with us? (Hardly).
First, according to this hypothesis, the happiness of to-morrow would
ever be greater than that of to-day, and that of the following day
than that of the day before, and so on to infinity. In this case, the
measure of happiness would no longer be virtue (but duration). Then,
the beatitude of the divinities will also have to become greater from
day to day; it would no longer be perfect, and could never become
so.[54] Besides, desire finds its satisfaction in the possession of
what is present, both now, and in the future. So long as these present
circumstances exist, their possession constitutes happiness. Further,
as the desire of living can be no more than the desire to exist, the
latter desire can refer to the present only, inasmuch as real existence
(essence) inheres only in the present. Desire for a future time, or
for some later event, means no more than a desire to preserve what
one already possesses. Desire refers neither to the future nor the
past, but to what exists at present. What is sought is not a perpetual
progression in the future, but the enjoyment of what exists from the
present moment onward.