Are the great French philosophers right? It does seem that in humanities continual chase for happiness we find ourselves miserable.
2007-07-25 05:36:16 · 8 answers · asked by ? 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Aren't people who insult the questioner just adorable! I just love open forums.
2007-07-25 05:57:11 · update #1
I did say "lasting" happiness....not temporary happiness.
2007-07-25 06:08:41 · update #2
Yes, because lasting happiness comes from within, it is not external. Chase all you like and you will never find it. You must learn to accept the truths as they are in the moment, and be content with them regardless of their consequence. How you feel about these truths does not change the validity of their truth, so if you adjust you attitude towards them, you can accept them and be happy. This doesn't mean you won't actively try to change them, it simply means that you accept what is for what is and are internally contented.
After all, it is not a person who makes you angry, but you who decide to be upset with them. The ball of happiness is squarely in our own courts.
Check out the book "Happiness: Cultivating Lifes Most Important Skill" by Matthieu Ricard. Ricard is a French Ph.D if biochemistry-turned-Buddhist monk. He is the French translator for the Dalai Lama and is clinically the happiest person in the world. He participated in some fMRI studies with Dr.Davidson, where monks would meditate in the fMRI. They found the centers associated with positive emotions and hapiness were extremely activated in these monks, and Ricard in particular was head and shoulders above them, so the book is truly coming from an authority on the subject.
2007-07-25 06:02:46 · answer #1 · answered by neuralzen 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes and no.
a state of "happiness" would cease being "happiness" if it were to last forever. there is a duality to everything; a balance. if humans were "happy" all of the time, we'd get to a point in which we would cease even knowing what happiness *is.* we would be oversaturated with happiness.
to experience happiness, you must struggle somewhat, and work through the process of change. i'm not saying you have to be miserable in order to experience a lighter, happier state, but you do have to change form one thing to the other in order to feel satisfied with what you've got. change is always challenging for us, because we are creatures of habit. when we finally *do* make changes in our lives:
"ahh, i made it."
"yes, this is better than last year."
"i feel great about this now."
think about it: we measure our happiness based on the present moment. we compare the past to how we are feeling now. we compare now to how we might feel in the future. happiness that would last forever would negate the entire point of working toward being happy. it sounds neurotic, but i think this is how humans are.
in a sense, the search for lasting happiness is a failure, because there is no such thing as finding a big old pot of happiness at the end of the process. it's a bit like waiting for godot. you would be searching for something that would never be there.
in another sense, the process...the changes we go through as we experience different states...will lead us toward happiness. in this case, no, the search is not a failure. the reward comes in realizing that life ebbs and flows. there are ups and downs. just like when you surf, you catch that wave when you can. *THAT's* happiness.
again, it's about product and process. the DOING is better than the tangible THING at the end. why? it's because the universe doesn't reach an ending point...it goes on and on. the process of experiencing happiness in different amounts and at different intensities *goes on.* it's not like...drawing a line with your ruler form point a to point b.
hope this helps...!
2007-07-25 20:14:06 · answer #2 · answered by soulsista 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
French Philosophers? Let's see - Thales, Parmenides, Heraklit, Sokrates, Palton, Aristoteles, Epikur, hmm don't sound french, lets see - Kant, Leibniz, Marx, Nietzsche, Witggenstein, aren't' they German. Oh, there was a Voltaire, I forgot. Happiness is like a favored color, in the eye of the beholder. Some people are happy, when the feed like grossly obese pigs on cheap burgers and support idiots like Bush. Others pretend being intellectuals, having own thoughts. Currently, the happiest people are Norhtern Europeans. 85% are happy, compared to 28% in the USA. May it has to do with their ungoodliness, they don't believe in god, compared to the USA, where 65% are strikt religious. Is god a stinker?
2007-07-25 12:54:25 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Happiness is temporary at best. That said with a good outlook you can almost always find at least a moment of it even in the worst scenarios.
2007-07-25 12:50:35 · answer #4 · answered by grey_worms 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Happiness is a feeling which can be produced by humans themselves,if you get serious with happiness such as take it as a real thing,you will surely get miserable.because you think you MUST get it and if you dont,you get pain or lost.
in fact happiness are inside the people
2007-07-25 12:45:23 · answer #5 · answered by Adam K 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
lasting happiness..depends on how you define it. Only when you're truly at peace with others and yourself can you find lasting happiness. But for most of us, happiness is ephemeral.
2007-07-25 19:35:06 · answer #6 · answered by ginandvodka 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not if the search is what makes one happy.
2007-07-25 12:48:21 · answer #7 · answered by msuetonius 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes. illusion leads to diapointment which leads tro despair. All we can do is sit back and enjoy the ride. say yes to everything for a week and see how it goes
2007-07-25 12:40:25 · answer #8 · answered by vous le vous? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋