That's an interesting thought, and really depends on what you define happiness as.
What I mean is, that let's say I pay a fee to get into a fair, and happen to have a great time, and am happy while I am there. Did I buy happiness by paying the fee to get in and participate in the activity that seems to have granted me the happiness?
So, if I pay to do something and I am happy, does that mean that I just bought happiness? I'd say no, because someone else may buy the same thing or pay for entrance to the same activity, and not be 'happy' while there.
But like I said before, it depends upon your definition of happiness... Because one person may define it as "getting high", where as another may define it as "feeling joyous", and someone else may say that they are happy, only because they are not feeling sad or depressed.
One of my favorite quotes (but I don't know who said it) is:
"Happiness is the emotion felt by the body,
Joy is the emotion felt by the soul"
It also depends on your definition of "buy" because that could mean paying cash for something, or paying the price or consequence of individual decisions.
Every decision we make has a consequence and by making those decisions we can make ourselves happy. For instance, I can decide to sit on the couch all day, and thereby doing nothing of substance and be very unhappy, or I could go out and be with friends or whatever, and be happy.
Our decisions 'buy' our happiness...
So, CAN we buy our happiness? It depends on your definition.
