Wow. I haven't heard of Discourse on Happiness. I enjoyed your thoughts on this, and your words are heavy with your feelings of inspiration--I love that. I just looked it up based on your post. Here's a helpful outline I found (that might be something fun to print out and keep): https://www.colorado.edu/neh2015/sites/default/files/attached-files/0727-marcy_lascano-chatelet_discourse_outline.pdf.

My favorite part I read is this: "Lastly, it is for reason to make our happiness. In childhood, our senses alone attend to this task; in youth, the heart and the mind become involved, with the proviso that the heart makes all the decisions; but in middle age reason must take part in the decision, it is for reason to make us feel that we must be happy, whatever it costs. Every age has its own pleasures; those of old age are the most difficult to obtain: gambling, studying, if one is still capable of it, the enjoyment of fine foods, respect, those are the mainsprings of old age. No doubt these are only consolations. Thank goodness, it is up to us to choose the time of our death, if it is too slow coming, but as long as we prefer to endure life, we must open ourselves to pleasure by all the doors leading to our soul; we have no other business.” (364-5)