Author	Topic:   Happiness
jojo	posted 12/17/05 0:18 AM       What is happiness? Why are some people happy? Why are some people unhappy? what does happiness consist of? What should one do to be happy? Do you agree that happiness simply means being contented or satisfied with whatever you have and what you are?
Dividian	posted 12/17/05 11:24 PM       happiness just, like suffering, is a product of our ego, conditional and transitory. i dont disagree with it nor do i agree with it, neither do i with pessism.
nameless	posted 12/18/05 1:19 AM     Happiness is one of many feelings that we as humans can enjoy. As warm and fuzzy as it is, it is not the only feeling that makes us human. Part time is good. No one that is sane and healthy feels only one feeling all the time. They all have their high points and their downside. It all flows and is on the wheel... No one is happy all the time, no one is sad or in love, or anything else all the time.. Stasis is death, change is life.
Dividian	posted 12/18/05 3:04 AM       what we feel is determined by our perspecitve, and how we perceive things is ultimatly our choice, so i believe that we choose to feel the way we feel, whether its happiness or despair; meaning we enjoy it..
Dividian	posted 12/18/05 3:08 AM       what we feel is determined by our perspecitve, and how we perceive things is ultimatly our choice, so i believe that we choose to feel the way we feel, whether its happiness or despair; meaning we enjoy it either way*
nameless	posted 12/18/05 6:09 AM     agreed!! *__-
jojo	posted 12/24/05 5:58 AM       So, happiness is a state of mind. Some people are happy because they choose to. Some people are unhappy also because they choose to. I can be Happy by choosing to be happy. Right?Your view on happiness reminded me of the song "Happiness" from "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". It goes like this:Happiness is two kinds of ice cream, finding your skate keys, telling the time.Happiness is learning to whistle, tying your shoe for the very first time.Happiness is playing the drumes in your own school band, and hapiness is walking hand in hand.Happiness is five different crayons, knowing a secret, climbing a tree.Happiness is finding a nickel, catching a firefly, setting it free.Happiness is being alone every noe and then, and happiness is coming ho,me again.Happiness is morning and evening, daytime and nighttime too. For happiness is anyone and anything at all that's love by you.Happiness is having a sister, sharing a sandwich, getting along.Happiness is singing together when day is through, and happiness is those who sing with you.Happiness is morning and evening, daytime and nighttime too.For happiness is anyone and anything at all that's love by you.
nameless	posted 12/25/05 8:52 PM     wow! did you memorize that? nice sentiment. it seems that anything as rare and sporadic in the world as 'happiness' would be pretty easy to spot (and thence define, for oneself, of course)when it rears its emoticonish head! *__- Happy Whateva...!
jojo	posted 12/31/05 1:34 AM       Aristotle is probably the most demanding philosopher on happiness. To him happiness consists of having all the good things like money, friends, health, wisdom and many more. If you have much of one but none of one, you are unhappy. You must have everything even not too much of them. Therefore to be happy requires at least two things: a certain individual giftedness in acquiring everything and environmental opportunities that will provide everything. This is very demanding.
nameless	posted 12/31/05 10:07 PM     If this is true, then Aristotle was a clueless materialist pig and he was simply wrong. He was almost personally responsible for the horrors of present western greedy, self-centered, rape-the-earth-and-each-other-so-that-I-can-get-more-stuff 'civilization'. Happiness comes from the accumulation of things?.. how clueless.
jojo	posted 1/6/06 12:13 AM       I see you disagree with Aristotle's idea of hapiness. OK, what do you think of the following other ideas of happiness:1. Plato and Freud - Happiness consists of inner peace.2. Socrates - Happiness consists of a virtuous life.3. Spinoza - Happiness consists of intellectual activity.4. Christian Theologians - happiness consists of a llfe devoted to God.5. Buddha - Happiness consists of contentment, detachment and gratitude.
jojo	posted 1/6/06 12:13 AM       I see you disagree with Aristotle's idea of hapiness. OK, what do you think of the following other ideas of happiness:1. Plato and Freud - Happiness consists of inner peace.2. Socrates - Happiness consists of a virtuous life.3. Spinoza - Happiness consists of intellectual activity.4. Christian Theologians - happiness consists of a llfe devoted to God.5. Buddha - Happiness consists of contentment, detachment and gratitude.
nameless	posted 1/6/06 10:21 PM     All right, what I see is that happiness means different things to different people. Absolutely subjective like everything else. Happiness is a feeling, one among many, that is related to various peptides produced in the hypothalamus in the brain. We have different 'situations' that 'initiate the production of these peptides of emotion. Whatever makes YOU feel 'happiness' is what works for you, or Plato, or Hitler, or me, or George Bush... One man's happiness is another man's Hell!
jojo	posted 1/22/06 2:20 AM       I realize that collecting philosophies about happiness or any other topic can be useless because I still wouldn't know the truth. Perhaps it will help if I have something solid or a frame of reference. If I am a Christian or a Marxist, and I believe in its teaching, then I have something to beleive. Then I won't be confused and I'll know what to do with my life. If you know something for sure, like what movie to watch, then you won't be confused and you know what to do. the problem is which body of teaching will I cling to?
nameless	posted 1/23/06 10:45 AM     You're looking for an easy way out. It takes much less energy (a limited 'resource' at best) to 'believe' than to 'think', to 'doubt'.~~~~~~~ "Then I won't be confused and I'll know what to do with my life." ~~~~~ PERHAPS IF YOU JUST "LIVED" YOUR LIFE, MOMENT TO MOMENT; HONESTLY, AUTHENTICALLY, ACTING IN CONSCIOUS AWARENESS, 'HERE' 'NOW'.. NOT ONLY WOULD THE CONFUSION DISAPPEAR, BUT YOU WOULD 'KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE' BY SIMPLY SEEING WHAT YOU ARE DOING. IF YOU ARE HUNGRY, BE HUNGRY! IF YOU ARE EATING, EAT! ~~~~~~ "the problem is which body of teaching will I cling to?" ~~~~~ SIGH... WHY DO YOU NEED TO 'CLING TO' ANYTHING? CLINGING TO A BELIEF IS NOT ONLY LAZY, IT IS A SURE CAUSE OF SUFFERING IN LIFE. REMEMBER bRUCE lEE'S JEET KUN DO? TEMPORARILY ENTERTAIN 'THAT' WHICH HAS VALUE, WHEREVER YOU FIND IT AND DISCARD WHAT DOESN'T! AS YOUR EXPERIENCE CHANGES AND NEW DATA ACCUMULATED, SO AUGHT YOUR WORLDVIEW. OTHERWISE YOU ARE LIVING HYPOCRISY ANYWAY. PEOPLE 'CLING TO' A LIFE-PRESERVER IN TIMES OF EMERGENCY. CLINGING TO 'BELIEFS' WILL EVENTUALLY HAVE THOSE 'BELIEFS' CLINGING TO YOU; WEIGHING YOU DOWN LIKE LOVINGLY FORGED CHAIN THAT YOU WRAP AROUND YOURSELF. 'BELIEFS' ARE 'AUTO-PILOT', WHILE YOU CONTINUE TO SLUMBER AND DREAM THAT YOU ARE 'AWAKE'...
Your Worst Nightmare	posted 4/25/06 1:51 PM     Happiness is a fag after a shag
the listener..	posted 5/14/06 1:50 AM       I dont know much,but I know when I am happy,should I explain my"happy" to you?dont think so,you have to find it out for you ,its your happy you are seeking not mine
Rudolph	posted 6/12/06 8:23 PM       hi everyone,With certain uncertainty I want to post a little bit of prose. But if I'm gonna ask anyone regarding the validity of my work, this would seem to be the approriate environment. In popular semi-fictional prose like Samuel Johnson's Rasselas I found a pretty good medium for philosophy without it being too technical. So, my only question is whether there is ANY value to be gained (by me or others) in pursuing a style of prose such as the example below? I'm not gonna make any more excuses or explain what I tried to do, but here it is. Refer to it as a small dissertation on happiness:“Happiness is not a state of mind or feeling of the soul obtained by following specific laws, a learned path, or partaking in particular events. Happiness is silent, a latent reward to those who prove trustworthy, wise and steadfast in life, it is the accumulation of constant acts promoting growth in the soul of oneself and those amongst us. The experience of such a life will one day bestow the soul with an eternal bliss, extinguished only by death or an ill mind. It is consistency that the young lack, and the knowledge that through perseverance of kind acts, often unreturned, the man will enable himself to be showered by heavenly bliss during his final years.”Jedidiah pondered, and then dropped his head. “I am not a youth. Is that not clear enough? And have I ever had the opportunity to hear words such as those just spoken? My youth has passed me by! What can a man in his middle years still accomplish? I have everything to prove, yet nothing to show for the life I lived, a stolen life at that!”“You are speaking of impossibilities. Can a man travel back in time to correct all the faults he has made? Or infuse his young self with wisdom? I fear not, for my words befall only deaf ears; the common youth remain stupid and ignorant of life’s truths. Do not lament the past, moments which cannot be changed, for if they only promote pain and harm, they should be unwanted and kept unseen to your conscience self. No matter at what age the quest for happiness or wisdom surfaces, rely on that very past for closure and comfort. Cast a reflective inner-gaze on every single action or moment, for once, not on the significant events, but those tiny moments of joy, a silent reverie, a single kiss, a shower from the heavens, and use these moments to build a new past. The more man dwells on an awful past, the tighter he wounds himself until the past comes bursting into the present once more."
nameless	posted 6/13/06 3:14 AM     "Happiness is a by-product of function. Those who seek happiness for itself, seek victory without war." -Book of Fudd
Rudolph	posted 6/13/06 6:27 AM       Cool. I did say that though, just in a different, long-winded, way. Infused with a little "peotry". Eventhough you didn't answer my question, I think I will abandon this "project". My personal goal is not happiness though. Merely to express myself, some way, some day.
Rudolph	posted 6/13/06 6:38 AM       Gosh, I actually spelled poetry incorrectly, forgive me.
nameless	posted 6/13/06 9:42 PM     Rudolf, what kind of people must you think us to be that you felt the need to correct your spelling and even apppologise?? ~~~~~~ Bye the bye, did you ask a question? I tried to read that longwinded thang twice. Sorry. Bad eyes, I guess...
Rudolph	posted 6/14/06 6:04 AM       I guess twang is not a good word...either way, I found some of the topics on this forum fairly interesting and will read some of the articles posted on the main site.Still, thanks for your time.
nameless	posted 6/17/06 4:14 AM     Rudolf, you misread my word. I said "thang", Amerikkkan Southern dialect, which actually does have a bit of a 'twang', but the word I used was 'thang' pinch-hitting for 'thIng'. As in 'long-winded thing'. K? Peace dude...
ez	posted 8/27/07 5:54 PM       i think it was lechon who said "the only happiness that exists is dreaming about a future happiness... i agree completely
smally lerned	posted 12/11/07 6:06 PM     JoJo, I think your gloss of Aristotle's conception of happiness isn't accurate.
Bouch	posted 3/27/08 7:23 PM     it is true that happiness is a product of our egos, and our egos are somewhat our perspective, our view, our vision on life.but you seem to forget, that we are not born with full control over our egos and over our self. in order to reach the ultimate happiness, you need to learn how to control yourself, how to control your ego, and how to control your perspective on life.without control, you just follow the flow of feelings like a log in a river. but when you learn to known yourself, and learn how to control every aspect of yourself, you will be like a swimmer who can swim in the direction he chooses himself.the only way to be completely free, is to have complete control over yourself.

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