Gaming World Forums
General Category => General Talk => Topic started by: Feldschlacht IV on January 23, 2008, 04:32:08 pm
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It's funny. In our world today, all kinds of things and issues are being discussed. In the public, world arena we have the economy, various political events, happenings with celebrities and famous figures, and in the area of our personal lives, issues such as health, financial concerns, personal issues with members of the household, and school and job issues also dominate our conversations with people, online and off. Even things such as self esteem, religion, personal image, and love lives are often ruminated on by various message boards and our own personal circle of friends. But one thing I don't really hear being discussed too often nowadays online and off is the issue of personal happiness.
Even in conversations where the subject is on ourselves as people, the issue of our own happiness isn't really brought up too often. Recently I've mused about how happy a lot of my friends believe they are, because it seems that people as a whole (and I'm referring to people our age, specifically) just coast through life day to day with no real thought of how happy they are. If we give it any thought ourselves, we usually think "Oh, I'm doing alright", and just leave it at that. But recently I've been thinking of how happy I really am with my life. As in, my current circumstances, my health, where I'm going, how I feel day to day, how close I am to my goals, and how I interact and get along with people in my life.
To answer the question myself, sometimes its hard to really define it, but everything considered, I'd like to think I'm pretty happy. I'm in college (a far cry from what people in my former social situation usually end up doing), I'm gifted with a supporting household, even if we're short a few of the usual family members. I'm financially secure to a relative extent, and I get along with pretty much everyone and I have a nice set of reliable friends. Most importantly I have my health, and I'm blessed to not suffer from any illnesses or any other debilitating issues. Of course I have my issues in life as well, but I try my best to deal with them. So, while some days are better than others and some days can be pure drudgery, I think I can say that I'm happy.
So, what about you. Really think about it. Can you say that you're happy? Also, I don't want to sound presumptuous, but try to keep the joke posts to a minimum. This may seem like an odd topic, but I really would like to generate some discussion on this.
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yesw
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No, I am not happy at all really. Well, I can't say "at all" because I am not some sort of solemn robotic meatbag that just walks around in a constant state of dissatisfaction, but I am pretty unhappy in general. I just ordered a book called The Geography of Bliss (it was featured on Colbert) and it looks pretty good. It's about the happiest places on Earth. Anyways, Happiness is of interest to me (and everyone I would guess) because it plays a role as a central, if not the central, human drive. Thus almost any comprehensive philosophy you construct must touch upon human happiness.
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I am pretty happy now. All things considered, I am probably the luckiest unlucky guy in the world. Been through some bad stuff, but almost always it has turned out positively. I've got a steady job (paid for snow days, fuck yeah!) A fiancee and a kid on the way, own property, and at this point in time, have free time to do what I want when I want (luckily my goals are all small).
FEELIN' FINE basically.
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I don't think I can really say I'm happy at this particular point in time, but I'm managing
and I'm expecting better things sometime soon.
I have a steady job, great parents, plans of moving out, a study I am doing at my own pace,
and am currently in the process of building a small studio so i can muse and record at my own
pace and desire. I don't have to worry about a girlfriend at the moment, and due to that I've
lost contact with a lot of my friends, but I really can't say I'm unhappy. I still have a couple of
good friends I interact with, parties to go too, and dreams to chase after.
You can probably safely say I'm completely fucking myself over. I usually ruin my own relation-
ships, become extremely bored with most people within short amounts of time, and aren't doing
anything extremely constructive with my life. I am currently just dreaming over what my life
will be in a couple of months, or rather should be, instead of doing something about it right now.
It might also be due to my cynical mindset. He who does not chase after greater things is not let
down when he doesn't get them.
All in all, I may not be happy, but for the moment this will do. I'm comfortable with my life like
this, and after I lost touch with my ex, I really needed the time to get my life in order. Which,
I have succeeded in. I'm not 'in pursuit of happiness', happiness will eventually find it's way back
to me. At that moment, I'll be ready.
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I have a really hot girlfriend who really loves me. I have a pretty steady source of income and I'm still in college, Hells yea i'm happy.
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what is this
the happy braggarts club
the internet is for melancholy and below
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im incredibly unhappy w00t.
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im always happy
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im pretty happy. loving relationship and good job.
my brakes are fucked up though that's kind of depressing.
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yeah I made a journal entry about this when last year ended.
Basically I'm happy because:
+Last semester I did pretty good at my exams, got my highest marks yet, despite I haven't studied as well as I'd like to.
+Live in a new and much much better house, where i have more privacy and a swimming pool which I'm taking much advantage of.
+Musically, I have been very prolific, released 5 albums last year and already released a new one yesterday to start this year (you can find it in the MUSIC CREATION forum). I am as well learning saxo which is cool although the breathing science is quite complicated for me as for now.
+I have a much better body now, I used to be quite a thinny guy, but now I have a much better shape, am a bit thicker (still don't hardly have any fat as it all becomes muscular mass). Right now, I'm not pale as I've been by the sun a lot lately. T-shirts fit in much nicely now. Feel much healthier, haven't been sick in quite a while and hardly ever blow my nose (which was something I frequently had to do before)
+I am having a will to learn more stuff. In addition to saxo, I'm wanting to learn more cooking, that's cool. I also made new paintings which I'm proud of.
+Socially, I'm fine. I don't hang around with people that much, but there's someone I'm interested in and it is going fine I think
+I changed my job, get the same pay (25% scholarship) and have to work half the hours. The trick is that I have to work on saturday but that doesn't bother me. So more free time and a better work/study/leisure distribution for this year.
+Basically am excited with this new semester. A friend I like is moving closer, and the subjects I'm getting this year are much cooler, and I'm just getting this whole feeling that 2008 is going to be a really great year and I'm going to mature a lot.
/brag
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I really dont have anything to be unhappy about right now. Im in a band making music, and no drama so far. Mainly because everyone in the band were close friends to begin with. Ive got good pals, and a few great friends. Due to exams, Ive been getting out of classes uber early, since all were doing is reviewing/taking notes on old stuff, which is awesome. Geometry is maaaad easy. I have good food. Ive got an uber awesome hat, and another one is being made for me as we speak. I just got to hang out with my awesome friend monday and had TONS of homemade popcorn and soda, and we watched Johnny Mnemonic[HALT ][/HALT].
I guess the only things Im not happy about is my chemistry grade and...thats about it.
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I will never be happy until the global corporate machine falls.
This is a fact. :(
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despite having pretty much nothin goin for me im pretty happy.
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If I told you all that you will die and all of your efforts are going to waste would you be happy?
If you can still be happy then you're truly happy.
There's not a single thing we can hold onto. Our thoughts, our ideas, our friends, our family, our skills, our talents, our extent of knowledge, our pets, our jewelry, our music, our loves.
You cannot find lasting peace in others, but yourself. If you can sit where ever you are and you could have time pass you by hour after hour and still feel good, even if your closer to death, even if you haven't fulfilled anything - that is how you can test your peace your happiness, because the one consistency that we all have is ourselves, from birth to death. The periods from our friends and family, all we have is ourselves.
Learning to love yourself, simply to love how good it is to be alive, not by our talents that fade in death, not by our knowledge that slips with age, not by our friends and family who leave, age and die, but by just the feeling of living. The things we feel are incredible things, even pain, emotional distraught, is an incredible feeling, happiness, ecstasy is too, but surely living (breathing) is the best for it encompasses all and doesn't leave until we leave.
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There's not a single thing we can hold onto.
yes there is, our creations.
Think Da Vinci or John Lennon or a table done by your carpinter friend given to you as a gift.
also Godot, you depict a very boring life.
A life of continuous happiness is a bland one.
That's the cool thing about happiness, it comes from time to time, not always as you try to promote. Like climaxes, like an orgasm. What's the cool thing about an orgasm if we were to be feeling it all the time? We gain tolerance, and then it becomes shitty.
A life of continuous peace is also a bland one, but I'd try to hold on to innerstate peace. To deal conflict with a peaceful state of mind, that's a good way to find yourself at ease, but we definitively want conflicts, or at least challenges.
A life of conflicts, now that's quite an interesting life!
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also Godot, you depict a very boring life.
A life of continuous happiness is a bland one.
I see logical problems here because happiness is usually exclusive with boredom, therefore if one does have a continually happy life one cannot be bored, and if you are bored your life has not been continually happy. This makes the statement "A life of continuous happiness is a bland one" pretty meaningless.
But, if you're going to still argue that it would be boring, then you seem to be suggesting that unhappiness is sometimes preferable, which I'm not sure it is because it is happiness which we are striving for. And if unhappiness is preferable in any case, and that preference is fulfilled, don't aren't we then happy? I mean, it just doesn't make sense.
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the problem here is that you think "bland" and "boring" are synonymous. They aren't
edit: also you pretty much didn't get my post. It isn't that unhappiness is sometimes preferable, not at all, what definitively is preferable is a life that has its ups and its down, don't force it to continuously be in its ups and never come down. I'm pretty a happy dude, but I get my low moments, and I think it is a healthy procedure. I think that if I stay 100% rocking on all the time, I'll end up insane.
There are no logical contradictions here.
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the problem here is that you think "bland" and "boring" are synonymous. They aren't
Oh, ok, dictionaries must be wrong.
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I even checked on dictionary.com before posting that, and I hold on to my statement
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http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/bland
oh ok you must be right
It isn't that unhappiness is sometimes preferable, not at all, what definitively is preferable is a life that has its ups and its down
I...I don't even know what to say.
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yes I'm right, unless synonymous means words that have somewhat similar meanings, then you're right. Sorry, I'm a purist.
And it derails the point of my post which deals with the blandness of a "continuously happy life"
edit: well you seem pretty delusional if you think having some lows plays against a satisfying lifestyle. Lows are just short slumps, not depressions. I think it is healthy to have that, a break between good moods.
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http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/synonymous
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hence, I'm correct.
Bland and boring do not have equivalent meaning nor imply the same idea
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Ok, and can I ask where you are getting that from?
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When your dead your talents, your friends, your belongings, don't matter is what I'm saying by "not being to hold onto anything." You have nothing in death.
You can put your life into better perspective if you look at death is all I'm suggesting.
The ups and downs drove me insane.
Truly the struggle, the work is pointless if we die anyway. We should just live, yes I'll meet friends, yes I'll love them, yes I'll feel pain when they leave for their goals, yes I'll feel pain if they died, yes I'll gain material, yes I'll continue to do art, yes I understand the work is pointless if in the end I die. I just want to live.
And I'm living, not missing out on any experience.
Having to struggle to be Up again ... and just fall right back Down is the most disheartening, I've been through it. And eventually I just ended up in a hole, that was consistent for months. Somehow I realized I could get myself out of it and I didn't need anyone or anything to help me out.
My life isn't boring, I'm not saying to stand still, it's just a test. It's reaffirming to feel so good without anything, that's all.
Besides I have different views then you, I don't consider standing like a tree, sitting still like a rock is boring, but rather powerful. I find nothing really "boring." The term "boring" can only be applied to one's own life, maybe sitting still is not your cup of tea I can understand that, it's not many people's cup of tea.
We're all on our own journey sorry to speak out like that.
for me it's my senior year at high school, I have to deal with the pain of leaving friends who have meant the world to me for the past 3 years, I have to deal with my close friend whom I discover what love was with, leaving for the Czech republic at end of the year. I had to realize I can't hold onto people, it isn't right. I'm still dealing with meeting so many good people, and then leaving them. That's the cycle that hurts, meeting and then losing people, but I have to deal with that. I don't think I'll get married, I think that would hold me back from learning sitting in a stew of myself, but if I do get married it won't be out of fear to keep the person I love.
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Oh yeah I completely understand you that it is healthy to have lows, I have lows, but I don't have depression anymore.
Having lows means that you are paying attention, but I turn into strength as much as I can.
Depression, is a form of laziness, people don't realize they can get themselves out of it.
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bland is an adjective used to describe a noun more by its content, its essence. A continuous happy life is bland because it is insipid. Not as a contrast to fun, but more on the line of uninspiring, of lacking substance. A bland life doesn't mean no fun or boring, it more likely suggest little high quality time.
Boring is more concerned on being the opposite of fun.
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Ok, first you accept that bland are boring are synonymous. And then you say they don't have the same meaning or a meaning very similar by the definition of synonymous which states otherwise? I mean, seriously.
but more on the line of uninspiring, of lacking substance.
You are pretty much DEFINING boring.
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Guys you two are having a fight about the funniest words to have a fight about.
Bland and Boring.
Breathe. Look they are words, fuck who's right, I can see you both have good reasons.
No need.
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C.R.E.A.M. so hell yeah im doin fine
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jesus christ, godot, ups and downs is the way nature works. You're such a pseudo-monk. Food cycles work that way. Diffusion and osmosis work that way(I am thinking inside the body)
You want to stay constantly happy? That requires ups and minor downs. Homeostatis works that way. To keep you always at a certain temperature (to stay alway happy) your body sometimes has to do this and sometimes does the opposite (ups and downs).
Now let me put this straight, a DOWN is NOT going to PULL YOU DOWN.
It's like "I know I'm happy and fine, it's just that I'm a little in a bad mood right now". This is just temporal, emotions are cyclical.
also I'm not going to keep discussing the bland boring thing, it is pretty ridiculous and completely misses the point of my post
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Your post made no sense and I've pretty much pointed that so it's pretty relevant imo however you are apparently going to continue on making the same mistakes (as you did in the last post) so I'm done
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I've been reading this book called "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", and it has sort of got me thinking along these lines.
In the book, the author struggles to define "quality". And, I think the trouble exists is because you can only know quality in comparison to something else. I sort of think happiness is the same way. I don't think a constant state of happiness is possible because I believe that "happiness" is a relative feeling, and not really a possible steady state of mind. Happiness is really only possible through fluctuations.
To be constantly happy, theoretically, you'd have to be constantly progressing into something better. And really, that is the most unlikely thing because even the slightest things can spoil it. Even the lack of happiness in others. That kind of perfection just doesn't exist. Happiness is a little hard to define in its own right because its hard/impossible to really pin down its exact source, which varies for everyone. A millionaire could triple his already huge fortune and be pretty happy about it, but, if you cure a child's sick pet, I'd be willing to bet that child is just as happier as the millionaire, if not more.
So really, am I happy? Relatively. Compared to the day I broke up with a girlfriend, I'm extremely happy. But compared to a good day out with friends in the mountains, then I'd say I'm not happy at all.
PS
For those debating what life would be like if we were always happy, haven't you ever played Nigsek? :gwa:
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DJ @ Your not hearing me at all - so it doesn't matter.
Being at peace is different from being consistently happy.
Being at peace, is taking life as it is, and not making anything more out of it,
it is simply just being completely understanding of what happens in life.
Emotions are conditional - not cyclical, they are only cyclical because theirs two distinctions we have which is positive and negative moods, one will have to follow the other. Their is no neutral mood in what I understand, unless your a robot.
Emotions are conditional - what does that say. If they were cyclical that would mean I could just sit here and I'd go through up and down without any input. That is not life. We feel sad when someone dies, we feel jealous when someone takes something we think should be ours.
If emotions are conditional it is because of conditions that we go through emotions, if one regards one life so serious then I can see how conditions could effect ones state of mind, if one regards one life not so serious then conditions wouldn't have such an effect on one's state of mind.
But taking one's life not so serious, is misunderstood in words.
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a really good book. I can't wait to get Lila (the sequel in which Pirsig dives into ethics). It is sad that his son, Chris (he is in the first novel), got stabbed outside a zen center though.
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Personally, I'm usually content on my own. It's really outside forces that sort of kills the mood for me. I'm in a really suffocating position right now with my home life. The thing is, it's a problem I really can't fix as I have my own personal future to worry about.
I think within a year from now the problem will dimish considerablly. But the horrible tides of home stress will get a bit rocky for me in the next few months.
I actually got into an argument with my dad today. The thing is, I'm really not like those prissy boys that run around crying and shit. It's just that I find it hard to effectively do my school + work stuff in the enviroment I live in. I come from a big family and were still pretty closely connected and living together or near by. I'm the youngest of the bunch and because of the situation with my school and all... I'm not financially able to move out on my own.
I don't want to come home from a long day to get into arguements, seriously. My dad means well but he is really really annoying and I have yet to find a suitable solution. It was basically the reason why I left for months to west canada with my sister.
Sorry for the lack of details... I'm not as "open" as some folks around.
Anyways, I'm actually pretty content other then that.
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Lack of details - you shared more details than anyone here in their own personal lives.
My peace has been faltering lately because of College applications.
I'm applying to art schools, I have a shit amount of drawings to produce for them,
and I gave up the drawing medium a few months ago.
It's really hard for me to stay on task this year,
its my senior year, I want to spend every moment in the comfort of my friends,
before everything just splinters apart, and is harder to see everyone.
I'm getting pressure from my mom to not go to art school,
I haven't even told her I'm taking a year off next year,
She expects me to be out of the house,
I'm getting pressure from my older brother who attended RISD (prestigous art school)
to go there,
and his foster mother who's a really driven art teacher.
Our personalities clash, as I'm very laid back and would like life to just come,
she's like a storm moving forward.
I'm content right now, can't they understand that, I don't want to leave until I'm the last to go of my friends.
Again all of them mean well too, so I'm not mad at them, just I wish they'd let me be.
Time is meaningless, and I'd apply to college eventually.
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Jesus christ this thread is terrible. For the first half page it's Catslack covering/defending his mistake and nitpicking about Shepperds choice of words (that's pretty embarrassing man), Shepperd arguing with an guy who writes his posts in life-sophical emo-poetry (monoloque) (((have you adapted apathy to protect your ego or what man)))...
agaFSA()(() I AM NOT CONTENT WITH THE LEVEL OF THIS TOPIC.
FYI, i can tell you that i have just recently noticed that i feel much safer when under stress and threat rather than... well, you know, when in peace. In a state when it seems everything goes right for once.
I'm just like any little animal, always on my toes! :fogetshh: *drinks beer with sheperd and frank zapa
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I think the reactions to that topic are sort of funny. I mean, people are asked, are you happy? and they answer, yeah.. I got a job and friends and I'm financially stable and healthy...
I mean, do you guys even believe yourselves when you say that? Do you truly think that these are the conditions to your happiness? That its all what being happy is about, like, not lacking of anything for your physical and mental health? Happiness is just "not having your basic needs frustrated"?
I have all of the above, but I don't think I'm truly happy. Not always at least. The only times I feel sort of happy is like, in short moments of escapism, like when I read a book, watch a movie or some other entertainment. I can only sort of feel good during these short moments where I occupy my mind at something that completely denies myself, where I stop having importance and am pulled inside a story where I don't exist directly. But what is the worth of happiness if it means forgetting yourself?
Those of you who say they are happy, are you really? Can you stay alone in a room, and do nothing, and feel nothing, and empty your mind, and still be happy?
Or when you try that, do you suddenly feel immense emptiness inside you, emptiness that urges you to quickly think at least about something, to start entertaining yourself again? This feeling of nothingness is extremely hard to bear. Its what many religions and the like try to explore with meditation (which is about exploring and embracing this feeling of emptiness rather than run from it). I cant do that meditation shit myself, I don't think its really the secret to happiness either, but at least they're trying something.
Someone who is truly happy is someone who would be content with himself. I don't think anyone here (or anyone period) is truly happy.
Happiness is like, this elusive, mysterious goal that no one can ever really reach. Its some sort of idealistic value that people occasionally touch without ever really reaching. I think that people who say they are happy here, either they really mean, "I'm not feeling depressed", which is hardly being "happy" at all. Either that, or they're deluded.
(or maybe you reached some HIGHER STATE OF BEING, in which case I applaud you)
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I generally only get out of bed each day because, if I sleep in too long, I start to smell really bad. Eventually my unwillingness to deal with the real world is outweighed by my inability to tolerate my own stench
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Jesus christ this thread is terrible. For the first half page it's Catslack covering/defending his mistake and nitpicking about Shepperds choice of words (that's pretty embarrassing man), Shepperd arguing with an guy who writes his posts in life-sophical emo-poetry (monoloque) (((have you adapted apathy to protect your ego or what man)))...
agaFSA()(() I AM NOT CONTENT WITH THE LEVEL OF THIS TOPIC.
FYI, i can tell you that i have just recently noticed that i feel much safer when under stress and threat rather than... well, you know, when in peace. In a state when it seems everything goes right for once.
I'm just like any little animal, always on my toes! :fogetshh: *drinks beer with sheperd and frank zapa
What is my mistake?
EDIT: There were really only two points I was making, which are relevant to his post. The first is that I see problems with saying that it is preferable that life have ups and downs--especially when you are going to argue that you aren't suggesting it is ever preferable to desire unhappiness over happiness. Secondly, he argued that bland and boring aren't the same, and said he checked dictionary.com. I did as well since he brought that site up, and found boring under the synonyms for bland, and then he argued that synonymous doesn't mean have the same or very similar meaning, which it does. But he seemed to think that he had proven otherwise? I have no idea how.
also Godot, you depict a very boring life.
A life of continuous happiness is a bland one.
But anyways, not arguing semantics and using his definitions. He seems to suggest a life of only happiness would be uninspiring or lacking substance but doesn't realize these are pretty irrelevant if you accept that you are already happy. The fact is that if you do feel your life is uninspiring or lacking any substance or that it is of little quality you aren't going to be happy, and if you are happy then you aren't going to hold that view.
He argues that it would 'drive him crazy' if he didn't have ups and downs, but the fact is that if it does 'drive him crazy' which I assume to mean some sort of emotionally distraught state then he is no longer happy and probably hasn't been genuinely happy the whole time which violates the idea of a life of pure happiness. No? But even ignoring that if it did 'drive him crazy' this would actually be a good thing in his view because it would create a low which, according to him, is necessary for his sanity. However, this doesn't make sense either! He needs to be insane to be sane? I mean....????
Also there is some argument in there that things come in cycles and therefore we shouldn't try to fight it because a) "it is natural" (not an argument) and b) it would be stressful or something not to. This doesn't make sense either because if you are stressed out always trying to be happy you are not happy and this, again, violates the first premise of being happy all the time.
So please enlighten me to my mistake, because I wasn't trying to cover it. I didn't know one existed.
FYI, i can tell you that i have just recently noticed that i feel much safer when under stress and threat rather than... well, you know, when in peace. In a state when it seems everything goes right for once.
I'll also throw this in here because it's along the same idea: If you don't feel safe in peace it is not peace! You are pretty much create a scale with peace on one end and stress on the other and saying stress is preferable because it is more peaceful--or in your words you feel, "much safer" which I wouldn't have much of a problem equating a feeling of safety with a feeling of peace on some level. Don't you see the problem there?
And this can all pretty much be summed up by this:
Someone who is truly happy is someone who would be content with himself. I don't think anyone here (or anyone period) is truly happy.
Happiness is like, this elusive, mysterious goal that no one can ever really reach. Its some sort of idealistic value that people occasionally touch without ever really reaching. I think that people who say they are happy here, either they really mean, "I'm not feeling depressed", which is hardly being "happy" at all. Either that, or they're deluded.
However lacking detail the explanation is I think it still holds up pretty well. It is very easy to equate happiness with contentment yet you people seem to be violating this constantly by explaining situations in which you are not content.
That's the cool thing about happiness, it comes from time to time, not always as you try to promote. Like climaxes, like an orgasm. What's the cool thing about an orgasm if we were to be feeling it all the time? We gain tolerance, and then it becomes shitty.
Although I wouldn't call an orgasm happiness, and you don't SEEM to be doing it either, let's try the same example with happiness. If you become tolerant to happiness through some strange means, then you are no longer happy. It's not as though happiness is ruined because happiness is an emotion--one that you are no longer feeling. So happiness cannot become shitty. At most we can not be experiencing happiness. But happiness will always remain desirable.
A life of continuous peace is also a bland one, but I'd try to hold on to innerstate peace. To deal conflict with a peaceful state of mind, that's a good way to find yourself at ease, but we definitively want conflicts, or at least challenges.
A life of conflicts, now that's quite an interesting life!
And even you basically admit that happiness is always preferable when you say you'd rather hold on to peace and to deal with a conflict in a peaceful state of mind. This is in opposition to your suggestions that one don't try to hold on to happiness and that it should 'come and go.' Isn't it? The life of conflicts is irrelevant if you actually are completely satisfied and happy. Can this actually be achieved? I don't know. Supposedly the Buddhas have achieved it in the past. However, we had already accepted the premise that the life in question is of happiness.
Think Da Vinci or John Lennon or a table done by your carpinter friend given to you as a gift.
Trying to hold onto anything is pretty dangerous according to Buddhist doctrine. Even the work of Da Vinci, or Lennon, or your carpenter friend are going to fade and decay eventually. Thus any sort of attachment can lead to unhappiness. Which is interesting, then, because the only way to achieve happiness is to not be attached to happiness! Haha.
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Yes I can honestly say and mean it that I'm happy.
I have done a lot of inner work on this subject, that's all the arguments I feel the need for to give.
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what we want is lasting peace, and at the same time we can have happiness, and at the same time we can have sadness.
lasting happiness is the true delusion, you are not going to feel happy when your mother dies, when your best friend so young is dead,
you will be broken in two. your happiness will become sadness.
But peace is what will keep you going, will keep you from questioning, will keep inner turmoil calm. peace will open the doors to living.
I'm sorry I didn't illiterate that, I'm still learning as I go along, and I'm sorry to have caused frustration among others.
Don't strive towards happiness, strive towards collected calm, Peace.
To hear the truth of death for ears not ready, is deeply overwhelming. I'm sorry to have spoken so plainly, as I had to come a long ways to arrive to that conclusion, it is my own conclusion, but as we all feel our own conclusions if we have them, are correct. There could be more than one way to find Peace, I have found my own.
One of you mentioned meditation - in the branch I'm studying, Shambhala, the meditation practice is used to calm our minds, inorder to understand our thoughts, how we should seperate who we are from these thoughts - for if you look at them they truly are not us, they are reactions to feeling so insecure. It's preparing and planting us in the present, and opening ourselves up to our emotions and our experience. I have found happiness in the oddest things that I would not have before. It's rooting out our fears to open ourselves up to others. Eventually wisdom shapes itself, to a point of complete understanding, it like a stream of love and compassion that never stops, even in pain, but when all-knowing wisdom comes up - you don't seem to experience the emotional pain you had before, emotional pain that centered around the ego. The pain you feel is deeply rooted in others suffering. In that state it feels like it couldn't possibly end, eternal love and eternal wisdom. I can say that this is there, it's a most wonderful feeling, to feel so genuinely caring, but even holding onto that can be its end, for it's self-defeating. Your wisdom just becomes empty words then, rather than experiencing.
Peace is a calm understanding for all that happens in life, the good and the bad. Happiness is felt and Sadness is felt, pain is present, more present than before, but happiness is sweeter on top and sadness is lightly whipped. Strive towards peace please.
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:fogetnah: : "With my final breath, I used my remaining strength to transfer my soul into the body of a puppet. As the puppet Kururu, I befriended Cornet. Cornet never realized who I was, but we still became wonderful friends.
For every meeting, there is also a goodbye. Its because people part that new acquaintances can be made. Life might simply be about repeating that cycle over and over... And thus, once Cornet found true happiness, I left her side. People may have thought of my life as a happy one. They may have thought the opposite. Was I happy? I don't know, myself. But there's one thing I'm sure of : My life was satisfying.
There are both hardships and happiness in life. People feel happiness because there are hardships, and because of those hardships, people feel happiness. I want everyone to realize how precious happiness really is. Always and forever... And finally, I would like to express my deepest, deepest gratitude and say..."
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There is no such thing as Happiness.
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I think the reactions to that topic are sort of funny. I mean, people are asked, are you happy? and they answer, yeah.. I got a job and friends and I'm financially stable and healthy...
I mean, do you guys even believe yourselves when you say that? Do you truly think that these are the conditions to your happiness? That its all what being happy is about, like, not lacking of anything for your physical and mental health? Happiness is just "not having your basic needs frustrated"?
As far as human beings go, yes thats why most of us are happy. I guess the reason Im happy about such simple things is because I never really think twice about being sad, and I chose what makes me happy.
Im just making crap up as I type[like ][/like], but I do think happiness is kinda like setting milestones/goals in life. E.g. you set a goal for happiness, you reach that goal, you wallow in that happiness for as long as you need, then you set another goal for happiness. Sort of like, happiness is a choice, you know? Like instead of reaching for the big whammy of happiness, you just take what happiness you can get.
I dunno feel free to shoot me down
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I'm.. somewhat happy I suppose, i'm not doing very well and school and i'm still trying to get over my ex but..
I dunno. It's an on and off thing.
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I'm not happy, I have nothing to make me happy atm. But that's what I see life as, a fight for the happyness. People get side tract and think that being content is being happy. Happyness isn't microwaving a cheese toasty while waiting for Friends to come on. Happyness is like achieving something cool, spending quality time with the person you love, Getting a Kaworu Nagisa mini statue etc etc.
But I ain't going to argue because the way I see it, the more people around who settle for uninspired lives, the more cool opportunities there are for me.
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I have found happiness by not being into anime anymore
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dis is me:
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I'm not happy. I think that this "pursuit of happiness" was some crazy marketing idea someone had to sell more products, and that happiness is just a consequence of being in the right place of the Universe and not something you can get by praying a lot and saying you're happy, maybe you can force yourself into thinking you're happy by doing this and buying all the toys you desire or playing baseball or being a famous actor and a millionaire, but that will not necessarily make you the happyest person that exists. Using drugs won't help either because all they do is messing up with the chemistry of that organ you call a brain.
You, an immortal creature trapped into a pile of worthless meat, cannot be happy just by pretending you are, the only way this can happen is if it just happens. So if anyone tells you YOU SHOULD BE MORE HAPPIER!! then that person is either lying or trying to sell you something.
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philosophers has it that happines is the final goal in life (unless you're something like catholic and then salvation is the ultimate goal)
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i dont think anyone who wants to see civilization consumed in a giant mushroom cloud is happy
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i am happy. i have not accomplished everything i want to accomplish, but i know everything takes time and i can safely say that im doing everything i can to pursue goals etc.
shep was right. words do not exist if they mean the exact same thing. its all about diction and usual context/applicability. even if you look em both up, its obvious.
You, an immortal creature trapped into a pile of worthless meat, cannot be happy just by pretending you are, the only way this can happen is if it just happens. So if anyone tells you YOU SHOULD BE MORE HAPPIER!! then that person is either lying or trying to sell you something.
that is not true man. <self help book>happiness is largely a state of mind and is directly related to your attitude and approach to living. evidence for this = everybody i know who seems verifiably happy has an assertive I CAN FIX IT attitude toward living accomplishment etc. really, its the only attitude that makes sense.</self help book.>
anyway i am not going to LONG RESPOND to that you so that will have to suffice!
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I was never meant to be happy, and probably never will be.
Such is the life of Vale. :sad: