alright..
in addition to the questions below... i would like to ask the following.... (this has come up in more than one recent conversation.... eek!)
what is happiness?
and if that doesn't cause what a good friend of mine calls a "brain fart".... i don't know what will!
but write your thoughts.. sign them anonymously if you're just that self-conscious....
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16 comments:
How do you describe the colour red? Happiness is such a fundamental thing it is difficult to describe. I fI had to take a shot at it I would say that its the emotion triggered by Beautytruth or perhaps a distinct lack of suffering. Good question though. I can safely say it made me happy to think about it.
ha.. i had a comment writeen..and blogger got mad at me and shut down...
to answer your question:
red can be defined by the wavelenght of light that it absorbs.. if i remember my physisc and biochem right (ask me in a week)
so now you must answer: what is happiness?
also: why did it make you happy to think about htis question?
If you're going to describe red as a wavelength then happiness is a cognitive perception of a certain balance of chemicals in the brain. But I think that both explanations are lacking (and are unpoetic to boot). If we truly wanted to perfectly understand happiness we would have to fully understand conciousness. I'd rather fight Mike Tyson than try to tackle that one though. So I offer the thought, as I said above, that happiness is a reaction to love, truth and beauty (if you can really seperate those 3 things). How's that? The question made me happy because watching my mind work is a beautiful thing and it always provides the truth :P
5.46.
it seems we have an ongoing dialogue here! i am, let me say, amused...
a question for you, dear friend: how do you know that your mind always provides the truth?
and while we're on the topic... what is truth?
also, would you mind expanding on how happiness is a reaction to love, truth and beauty?
one might contend that those three are actually causes of pain, instead of happiness... love is almost always conditional, and therefore leads to disappointment; truth is rarely what we expect it to be - and therefore can lead to pain, since when faced with truth, we must deal with it. and beauty? well, doesnt' that only show us how many ugly things there are in the world? i switched my mirror for a plastic one for just that reason! :P
and touche on the chemical blah blah of happiness.
Anonymous, you say that happiness could possibly arise from a distinct lack of suffering. However, just because there is a lack of something, that doesn’t equate to there being a gain of another thing. Although this may hold true for science (I use this due to the usage of frequencies), science does not hold true in all cases. For example, if you were to take the lack of intelligence. If someone were to not be lacking in intelligence, it would not make them a genius. It would simply make them not stupid. Happiness is not simply the opposite of sadness; sadness stems from anything that one chooses to allow to cause them pain and suffering. Happiness cannot be the mere lack of choosing things to cause you pain and suffering, it is the active choice to make things enjoyable to you.
You say that happiness is the reaction to love, truth and beauty. But what if one doesn’t ever experience these things? And why does it have to be a reaction to another thing? Can one not just simply live in a state of happiness? Can we not just BE something?
I think the question is not “what is happiness” but more, “how can one live in a state of happiness”. I realize that happiness is a concept, and that it cannot be defined without seeing it applied (like a lab in physics..), but I think this fact escapes our humble servant.
Also, what if happiness comes down to each individual being able to live with him/herself, and being able to deal with who they are?
These are my thoughts.
Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You Feel by Candace Pert...check it out!
This is the original anonymous here:
To Our Humble Servent, For the sake of this argument let me say that truth is the absolute reality. I know many people believe that there is no ultimate reality and only perception; but you can strike truth from the list and the argument stands. You say that love leads to pain: I say the ending of love leads to pain. You say that the truth is rarely what we expect, I say that it is the original lie, and not the newfound truth that hurts. You say that beauty only shows whats ugly. Well that's just cynical. I know you are an apreciator of beauty no matter what your mirror is made of. (You play the devils advocate like a pro though, I must confess)
As for Anonymous 2 you have struck on the relativity of happiness. You would say that happiness is not the exact opposite of suffering but then tell me what is inbetween? Name it and I'm sure I can tell you it is a form of suffering (even if it's just minor suffering). Indifference? Minor suffering; Neutrality? I have yet to experienceit although it sounds horribly robotic.
But I agree with you when you talk about just deciding to live in a state of happiness. That is of course the ultimate goal. Unfourtunately it does not just take intent to be happy in all circumstances. It takes strength of mind and soul (or just mind for you aethiests). But you hit the nail on the head when you said 'why does it have to be a reaction to another thing'. I would say simply to serve as a template but idealy it wouldn't have to.
As for the third anonymous, that book sounds awfully psychobabbly (If I may judge a book by it's title). I think Henry made a poignant statement today with his Personality defect quiz. If Happiness is just chemical then why don't we all just take drugs that emmulate it?
Yes, you're right! You should never judge a book by it's cover. Here's her reply to the question of what "emotions" are: Emotions are the glue that holds the cells of the organism together in the material world, and in the spiritual world they're the glue that holds the classrooms and the society together. That's why they are so interesting, because they're on a material level – the molecules of emotion as I've studied them as a scientist – and they're in the spiritual realm as well."
whoa boy...
i leave my computer for a few hours and look at this...
well, folks, i never would've thought that this woudl spark this much discussion... among.. apparently 4 ppl... 1042, if you are actually anonymous 1... you raise some interesting points... however.. they are totally eclipsed by 954 and 1107... i'm assuming they're the same person... altho.. when was the question at hadn about emotions?
i think about emotions as a 14 year old girl with PMS.. not happiness really...
try this on for size.. i read today that "true happiness comes from faith"
anonymous 1. you better write what you think about that!
happiness=warm bath
True happiness=Freedom from Your Ego
Hapiness may very well be truth, beauty and love, but not necessarily anywhere near Truth, Beauty and Love. Individual perception does not agree with universal absolutes. If one beleives that their world, and most importantly, themselves, are manifests of Truth, Beauty and Love, then they will be ahppy. this is in fact merely truth, beauty and love, abslutes tainted by the weaknesses of the individual. Yet, alternatively, ne who is fully aware of Truth, Beauty and Love realizes the collosal failures of both their world and themselves. this is what we call wisdom and it destroys happiness. It is therefore self delusion, not wisdom, which brings happiness, proving the age old idiom 'ignorance is bliss'. Wisdom is truly the well of despair. (Of course, when perfection is attained in the next life, pure joy is the result) thus confirming my old suspicion that happ poeple are not to be trusted. Why, you ask? Becasue they are the most dangerous of deceivers. they do not only lie to you, butlie to themselves and are verily unawares of their own deceptions. the best any wise person can hope for on this mortal coil is tranquility of the soul; to achieve an acceptance of imperfection and the perversions of Beauty, Truth adn Love in our world as the necessary forge through which all souls must be tempered. Just as iron must be purified in the fire before forming the sword, souls must be freed of their impurities before acheiving true joy. Happiness in this world is the symptom of many of these impurities and should not be tolerated.
Herr Heinz
please don't use my first name.
EB's Blogsearch gives me the heebiegeebies.
OOOOOO A message to "happiness=warm bath"...I just wanted to say....that I think you have beautiful eyes...true happiness=your eyes.
I'm gonna beat you in settlers one day arrrrrggggg
HEY now! hit on ppl on your own time 1040!
happiness is seeing the next life in this one.
-erika
well, fine, i guess i should write something decent on here... seeing as everyone else has... the only problem is that the more i read what everyone has shared, the more questions i have!
please, do not think that this means that i do not have my own opinions formulated in my mind... it is only htat i wish to learn more about how others see various topics - because it seems that we do not all think alike! (go figure)
anyway...
happiness... happiness, i can only describe in terms that i am sure you will find too vague or too personal.. however, here goes.
for me, it is the elation that comes from serving another human being. lately, i find my work to be the most fun time of my week - not to rag on the rest of you here.. but the reason is quite simple - for those few hours, i am completely at the service of a group of youth, and it is the most wonderful feeling to see lights go off, and to see them get excited about the world and all that we can learn from it.
the difference between happiness that comes from service to humanity and the happiness that comes from everyday life (such as from DNA fights in the lab, or long chats with good friends...) is that the former, (happiness from service) is true happiness.. and is a purer, more spiritual form of happiness. i do not dare say that i have truly experienced this! no, that i am quite sure of, because for service to actually be service, it must be selfless.. and that i, certainly, am not. however, i do know that there is a difference between true happiness and happiness... and that is the divide that i am pointing out here. the difference is that in the one case, we are happy because we are giving of our time and our lives for another (or others), and in the other case we are happy because we are doing something which we find pleasing.
one is based in the realm of the spirit, and the other, in the material existence... i do not mean to demean one and validate the other - both go hand in hand. the material plane was created for a reason!
anyway, i found this quotation - after writing this, interestingly enough... that you might find kinda cool:
"service to humanity is the true source of happiness, honor and meaning in life."
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