The Happiest Man ( musings)

The Happiest Man

Once there was a man who lived in the woods, and he was happy.
He knew he was happy, although he had never experienced any other emotions, he had fresh air, tasty food and a cosy cottage.
He was, he decided, the happiest man alive!

There was also a man who lived on a hill, and he was happy.
He knew he was happy, although he had never experienced any other emotions, he had fresh air, fresh food and a nice cottage.
Below he could see the man who lived in the woods, and he knew that his own air was fresher, his food tastier and his cottage cosier.
He was, he decided, the happiest man alive!

There was a third man who lived on a mountain, and he was happy.
He knew he was happy, although he had never experienced any other emotions, he had fresh air, fresh food and a nice cottage.
Below he could see the man who lived on the hill, and below him the man in the woods , and he knew that his own air was fresher, his food tastier and his cottage cosier than either of those.
He was, he decided, the happiest man alive!

However, all three men were in fact permanently sad because they were lonely.
But having no point of reference, they had decided that happy was a good thing to be, and so they were.

Questions :

Which of the three men was happiest?

Is happiness measurable, ie in such a manner that one persons happiness can be measured against anothers?

Is happiness relative to the person experiencing it?

Main question :
If our level of happiness changes relative to gained experience of depths and types of other emotions, do we have any conscious control at setting our own levels?

For example :
If it were possible, and I chose today, that I was happy, am I resetting myself relative to my happiness scale, or am I resetting the scale relative to myself?
Is there a difference?

More realistically: if i 'want' to be happy and 'choose' to be happy with what I have etc, is that truly possible in the sense that, eg. If I don't believe in God, I can say I choose to believe in God, but that won't make me actually believe in one, just pretend to.?
So just because I choose to be happy or have a happy outlook, do I get one if I'm actually sad?
Not in my experience but people tell me they do, so.. curious as to how that works....

Bonus question:
Do you think happiness is an emotion?
( Not after dictionary definitions, only personal outlooks)