2007-06-20 21:49:43 · 20 answers · asked by SexySadie 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Not only is happiness just an illusion, but so is life. We are here only for a second, as was said in the movie "we live between two eternities". Sadness and confusion are two good emotions, so are happiness and joy. Be happy that you are here to experience these emotions and let them flow over you. I have known pain many times but was glad to experience it, because it told me that I was alive even when I should not have been!
peace.be with you.
2007-06-20 22:55:01 · answer #1 · answered by billy d 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
... if you feel happy, then its not an illusion. Trying asking a sad person if sadness is just a confusing illusion filled with happiness. They'll never talk to you ever again.
so the answer is no.
2007-06-21 05:12:22 · answer #2 · answered by jesusoffh 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to the Taoist philosophy, every thing has its opposite counterpart, and everything has the nature of an illusion. So white has black, and male has female, etc., and only the Way or Tao (Dao) is permanent and real.
Happiness and sadness are like yin and yang. One chases the other in an never ending cosmic circle. Therefore we must not put all our effort and energies into clinging to them. Rather direct your efforts at seeking and following the permanent Way. Once you follow the Dao, your life will be at peace, and happiness and sadness will be like the rain drops that fall into a silent pond in the middle of a pristine forest.
2007-06-21 05:06:15 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
In most cases it is indeed. An illusion, the acceptance of our own misery. Obligation to an illusion. But sometimes we feel that the happiness we experience is somehow different. It comes from within. This happiness is true, extremely strong and short. It is difficult to separate it from illusion. Those who are able to do this, feel less happiness... however they are much more confident and wise beyond they years.
2007-06-21 08:43:23 · answer #4 · answered by leomcholwer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Happiness is produced when our dreams come true, when our ambitions are materialised, and when our wishes are fulfilled. Our dreams, aspiration, wishes and ambitions reside in higher dimensions of the mind that we realise in form of our thoughts, words, actions, efforts and prayers; they form our intentions and determinations. And when we reap the fruit of our concerted and sincere efforts we fell happiness. The essential of happiness is the realisation of the self. When we aspire to have something in this world and in the end succeed in having it we feel that we are relevant, important, connected and an essential part of this big wide world. The act of self-actualisation makes us happy.
Sadness and confusion come along as we try so hard to ensure that all our dreams are realised. Then, new dreams when try to make their way into our lives, and claim space of their own, we feel being deprived of our older self. We often refuse to change but never wish that our dreams would go. And then when our dreams shatter unrealised and unfulfilled, we feel dejection, because inside of ourselves then grow empty voids, and if not filled with pain sorrow entire life might collapse.
2007-06-21 06:00:04 · answer #5 · answered by Shahid 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"Happiness is but an occasional episode in a general drama of pain" - Thomas Hardy, "The Mayor of Casterbridge".
Yes, happiness as ordinary mortals know and seek it is an illusion. It is highly subjective, influenced by our likes and dislikes, high on physical enjoyment, low on mental understanding.
Notwithstanding what Hardy said, it is possible to shun illusory happiness and achieve permanent bliss. The truly happy soul flinches not in times of sorrow, nor does he surge with ecstasy in moments of joy. His is a state of equanamous being, tranquil and joyful. Pain, pleasure, heat, cold, noise, silence all are same to him. He rejoices in the knowledge of the spirit and the contentment of everyday living.
Such a being truly believes, as P.G. Wodehouse would say, "God is in his heaven and all is right with the world".
2007-06-21 05:59:01 · answer #6 · answered by Rajesh Iyer 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For every appetite we have, something exists to fill the appetite. If we're hungry there's food, if we're horny there's sex, if we're tired there's sleep. For everything we crave, there is something to satisfy it. Now people crave happiness but it's not something you get by directly pursuing it. God made the fulfillment of that desire, himself. He is the only thing that can fill it. People mistakenly try and fill it with money, fame, success and each time, the initial thrill dies away and you're left with the same need. Look at celebrities to see this best. Which is when they turn to weird cults like kabbalah and scientology. What people are really trying to find is Jesus. When you know him, it's like putting on a pair of glasses and seeing the world clearly for the first time.
2007-06-21 04:57:52 · answer #7 · answered by sonfai81 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
i often wonder why one day I'm happy the next I'm down for no reason so confusion is true i have worked all my life i own every material item wanted or needed Can buy almost any thing i want so there is nothing to aim for therefore it must be human greed that makes sadness also selfishness maybe we should all spend a year in a poor african village to appreciate our life
2007-06-21 06:05:12 · answer #8 · answered by mickeymousey 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Happiness is a state of mind just as is confusion and sadness.
2007-06-21 10:48:30 · answer #9 · answered by D.W 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No not an illusion but a passing phase, as ephemeral as sadness and confusion.
2007-06-21 06:10:50 · answer #10 · answered by Traveller 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋