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Shop: Mushroom-Hut Liquid Cultures   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order

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Re: Being Happy [Re: Swami]
    #3308628 -

Swami, you've got to stop thinking so black and white. The fact that some extremes illustrate your point does not undo the fact that most people can find ways to be happy despite the ho-hum daily existance that we're stuck in.

Whether you want to admit it or not, most of our daily lives (and I mean specifically the daily lives of the sort of individual who would find his way to this board) are lived in the grey area between extremes. So MOST of this discussion should apply to that grey area, and not the extremes you choose to throw in for emphasis.

No one's saying that their wife being raped wouldn't make them upset... your post in the original thread illustrated subjects such as marital status, employment status, and monetary status. Where does our loved ones being harmed fall into that? I'm sorry, but it seems to me that you just throw in an extreme example to make yourself seem right.

Even the most centered individual is going to be grief-stricken in some situations. All we're trying to say to you is that in MOST day to day struggles that just about everyone faces, each person can choose to be happy, despite conditions that might have otherwise caused them to feel bored or even sad.

The funny thing is, I can see by your "no biggies" above that you are on the same side as those you are addressing. You don't overreact to small negatives. That's good. However, you create the illusion of a seperation that doesn't exist by choosing to throw in some extremes that illustrate your point ONLY when applied to those extremes.

Edited by JacquesCousteau (11/02/04 10:52 AM)

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Re: Being Happy [Re: Swami]
    #3308678 -

".


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Anxiety is what you make it.

Edited by LunarEclipse (11/21/04 04:37 PM)

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Re: Being Happy [Re: LunarEclipse]
    #3308728 -

"Anecdote should be the criterion for what works"

no, not anecdote, personal experience. if statistics say '99% of people report no experience of out of body experience' that has no bearing whatso ever on the fact that i have .

I dont discount my experiences because of statistics. What happens to me, happens. Regardless of the likelyhood of that thing occuring, once it does, you simply cant argue it.


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Everything I post is fiction.

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Re: Being Happy [Re: Swami]
    #3309009 -

Swami said:
..but the fact that external events affect ALL of us to some degree.


Exactly. I've been reading a lot of Tao as of late, (The Watercourse Way, by Alan Watts, in fact), and I'm identifying with it a lot. It isn't about shutting down the mind or detaching from the world, it is about completley immersing oneself in the world, going with the flow, and not attempting to control, as this only seperates and cuts agansit the Way. It is more about existing in our true nature than anything, and this means that if we are getting bitten by a shark, it doesn't violate some spiritual law to squirm and scream. :lol:

Of course, the whole spiritual aspect of it is not identifying with the mind, or anything, really, but just letting the pure awareness radiate through and observe and be conscious of every little detail of one's experience. The mind still runs, life is still led as life wishes to run, but one is in a constant center, experiencing and observing it all. It is about observing and letting the waves flow - the universe, with all of its aspects, is mutually arising, and will work itself out if we don't attempt to control it. Water is water....

Ahhh, 'bouts of concentrated learning are great, the self is stepping aside and letting it all flow as it does...  :grin: :heart: :mushroom2: :evil:

:headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :satansmoking:
Peace. :mushroom2:


--------------------
:redpanda:
If I should die this very moment
I wouldn't fear
For I've never known completeness
Like being here
Wrapped in the warmth of you
Loving every breath of you
:heartpump: :bunnyhug: :yinyang:

:yinyang: :levitate: :earth: :levitate: :yinyang:

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Re: Being Happy [Re: fireworks_god]
    #3309376 -

I am responding to swami.

"Car gets a flat? No biggee. Lose big bucks in the stock market? Worse, but still no biggee. Come home and find that your house was burgled and your wife was raped and THEN if you can put on a truly happy face, I would be most impressed."

Everything does not make me happy, but my overall prevailing attitude is one of happiness. When bad things occur I get on with my life...I don't dwell on how cursed I am. How you react to any given situation is your choice...sometimes emotion forces my hand and I respond spontaneously, BUT I try to gain control quickly in order to minimize the damage done by the incident. Sometimes deciding how one will feel is an eminently practical tool for acheiving your goals...you seem to be a practical person(from your writings)I cannot believe that you do not have respect for fine tuned self control. Do you routinely respond to a crisis with self defeating reactions. If I am insulted to my face I try to smile and consider the source...it is only one man's opinion. Ten years ago I would have just kicked the guy's ass, but that only creates more negative feelings and consequences. Happiness is just an emotion, like any other, and can be controlled. If I were under threat of death would I be happy? I doubt it...I would NOT want to be happy and would likely use a more appropriate emotion in order to ensure survival.

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Re: Being Happy [Re: Huehuecoyotl]
    #3309857 -

Happiness is in appreciation.

As long as you can always appreciate your underlying existance, no minor physical events can change this.

I don't care about studies either, nor have I seen any presented here :wink:.

:laugh:


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Re: Being Happy [Re: JacquesCousteau]
    #3309981 -

In science, when testing a hypothesis (or when writing a software program). one tests at the limits to see if the paradigm still holds. This is a valid methodology.

Seems you now agree that externals DO HAVE SOME BEARING, which was my whole contention that was denied by some members. We are not seperate from the world.

We also know that more money past a certain point also has no bearing on happiness. Once we have some semi-defined upper and lower boundaries without denying their existence, then we can focus on the middle.


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The proof is in the pudding.

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Re: Being Happy [Re: Swami]
    #3310619 -

I think there is much miscommunication about the nature of happiness here. I do not mean that no matter what I will be grinning like an idiot. When "I" discuss creating your own happiness I mean it as a prevailing attitude that one is continually drawn back to. I have moments of anger, dissatisfaction, sadness, and fear, who does not, but my attitude remains positive and I always fall back on a posture of contentment and happiness. I feel that emotions, when practical, are felt they should be expressed in a healthy manner in order to move on and be happy. I am not discussing any sort of repression or forced happiness here. This does not mean I am a gleeful little elf 24-7. It is worth noting that all of the definitions of happiness being discussed here are different descriptions of the word which contributes to miscommunication. So, the question should be to define happiness first.

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Re: Being Happy [Re: Huehuecoyotl]
    #3310878 -

i think its true that constant happiness is pretty unachievable, but the point is that it is possible to achieve a state of serene equanamity regardless of our external situation, by a process of disassociation from the ego...


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Everything I post is fiction.

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Re: Being Happy [Re: Huehuecoyotl]
    #3310918 -

OK. I will try to define happiness.

1. An athletic slim girlfriend 20 years my junior.

2. A car that goes 0-60 in under 5 seconds.

3. More money that I could reasonably spend.


Seriously though, how about peaceful sleep at night without wrestling demons?


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The proof is in the pudding.

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Re: Being Happy [Re: Swami]
    #3311215 -

"how about peaceful sleep at night without wrestling demons"
I'll accept that definition easily. Relationships with women, cars, and money would be considered the icing on the cake, but not the cake itself. I will grant that everybody like a fancy cake with lots of elaborate (and edible) decorations, but I have made do just fine on pound cake before.


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"A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That's abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions." ― Carlos Castaneda

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Shop: Mushroom-Hut Liquid Cultures   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order

General Interest > Philosophy, Sociology & Psychology
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