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Invisiblebadreligion2good
Uncertain
Male

Registered: 02/21/06
Posts: 888
What is happiness?
    #6018172 - 09/01/06 11:19 AM (17 years, 6 months ago)

I've studied philosiphy myself, in school, and discussed it with people. I still dont know what happiness is. Sometimes I feel like I may have an inkling but the ideas are always fleeting. My search has brought me to try many things, but ultimately they are all unfulfilling and fleeting. I took zoloft for a while, but that wasnt happiness; I've smoked pot a lot for a while, but that wasnt happiness either; dosed on mescaline, that was fun, but it still wasnt that quintescential happiness; etc. I used to be hopeful that happiness was a chemical condition in the brain, all my experimentation has made me feel as though thats not it either. Happiness seems to only exist at certain moments under certain conditions. Can one be happy, always? How? I guess it goes back to that fundamental question: what is the good life?


--------------------
All I know is that I dont know.

Row, row, row, you boat, gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

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Invisibleredgreenvines
irregular verb
 User Gallery

Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 38,063
Re: What is happiness? [Re: badreligion2good]
    #6018207 - 09/01/06 11:30 AM (17 years, 6 months ago)

harmony
ballance
homeostasis
&
an appreciation of doing and seeing artful work


--------------------
:confused: _ :brainfart:šŸ§   _ :finger:

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Offlinefireworks_godS
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
Male

Registered: 03/12/02
Posts: 24,855
Loc: Pandurn
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
Re: What is happiness? [Re: redgreenvines]
    #6018228 - 09/01/06 11:40 AM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Well, the experience itself, whatever feeling it is that you refer to as happiness, is pretty much subjective, albeit I'd have to imagine that there are marked similarities amongst everyone's state of happiness.

I think happiness would involve a real sense of fufillment, a satisfaction with oneself, one's environment, one's life situation.

Its really a "hey, why can I not feel this way?" type of deal - it isn't necessary, most people could probably find a list of reasons why not to, but it makes one's experience of reality more amazing, so why the fuck not? :grin:

Ultimately, I think that happiness is an emotional state that a complex in the mind (some might refer to it as ego, but I tend to call it a mental sense of self that is rooted in flight vs. fight) will use in order to control your choice of action, offering reward when things turn out all right as a result and punishing you with suffering when you fail to meet its demands.

If you want to escape all of that, and feel happiness all of the time, you need to focus on consciously programming your mind to work away from that. Happiness will come from fully accepting reality for what it is. Eliminate one's mental addictions and simply operate with preferences.

Check out Handbook to Higher Consciousness by Ken Keys Jr if you really want to analyze a model by which one can work towards all of that. :wink:

:earth: :sun: :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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InvisibleTODAY
Battletoad
Male

Registered: 09/25/03
Posts: 10,218
Loc: Metropolis City, USA
Re: What is happiness? [Re: badreligion2good]
    #6018234 - 09/01/06 11:42 AM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Happiness is subjective.  This is proven by examining the things that make people happy...there are sooooo many things that make people happy.  It's up to the perciever to extract happiness from his surroundings.  Not everybody experiences prolonged happiness either.  There are happy moments in most everybody's life but I guess the trick is to not let it be a fleeting feeling. 

It's all chemical, so I don't blame you for trying to find it in drugs...hell, most of us dabble in a drug or two :wink:  If you are sitting on a bench and spy a bird flying to a nest to feed its young and you smile, that is a chemical effect in your brain too.  Wouldn't it be weird to ALWAYS be happy?


--------------------

ca'rouse (k-rouz)
intr.v.
To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking.

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InvisiblelIllIIIllIlIIlIlIIllIllIIl
Stranger

Registered: 12/16/04
Posts: 11,123
Loc: Texas
Re: What is happiness? [Re: badreligion2good]
    #6018239 - 09/01/06 11:45 AM (17 years, 6 months ago)

For me happiness is sitting in a comfy chair and watching a good movie, only the comfy chair is you and the movie is your life.

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OfflineGomp
Ā”(Bound toĀ·(O))be free!
Male User Gallery

Registered: 09/11/04
Posts: 10,888
Loc: I reĀ·side [primarily] in...
Last seen: 1 year, 28 days
Re: What is happiness? [Re: badreligion2good]
    #6018299 - 09/01/06 12:07 PM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Happiness is/as the result of gratitudeā€¦
Happiness is/.. the effect of gratitudeā€¦
Happiness is a/the cause ā€¦

ā€œMy attitude is gratitude!ā€
-Unknown :p

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Invisiblebadreligion2good
Uncertain
Male

Registered: 02/21/06
Posts: 888
Re: What is happiness? [Re: lIllIIIllIlIIlIlIIllIllIIl]
    #6018300 - 09/01/06 12:07 PM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Thanks for the insight everyone. Im not satisfied with my environment and my life situation, and I think that may be one thing bringing me down. Im only 18, and the money situation is tight right now, and the only relative I have who I also live with is about to expire. I feel confident I'll find happiness when I get to where I want to be and get passed this part of my life. Fireworks thanks for recomending the book, I'll check it out, and nice dog it reminds me of a wolf. I always wanted a wolf like dog so I could name it wolf.


--------------------
All I know is that I dont know.

Row, row, row, you boat, gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

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Offlinefireworks_godS
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
Male

Registered: 03/12/02
Posts: 24,855
Loc: Pandurn
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
Re: What is happiness? [Re: TODAY]
    #6018431 - 09/01/06 12:43 PM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Quote:

TODAY said:
Happiness is subjective.  This is proven by examining the things that make people happy...




Does this demonstrate that happiness itself is subjective, or simply that the causes for happiness are subjective? :wink:

Happiness is an emotional state of being, not the cause or reasoning for the emotional state.

These causes are subject to change, they are only as concrete as we wish them to be. Happiness is a choice, ultimately.

:earth: :sun: :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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InvisibleTODAY
Battletoad
Male

Registered: 09/25/03
Posts: 10,218
Loc: Metropolis City, USA
Re: What is happiness? [Re: fireworks_god]
    #6018453 - 09/01/06 12:50 PM (17 years, 6 months ago)

I really don't think everyone's interpretation of happiness is the same. This may be because there are levels of happiness as part of a continuum between happiness and sadness. The cause of happiness is indeed subjective but I would argue that our experience of the state of happiness is indeed subjective as well because of the nature of the continuum between both absolutes.

Sheet, I knew I should have replied after I got home from class...gotta go, oops.


--------------------

ca'rouse (k-rouz)
intr.v.
To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking.

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Offlinefireworks_godS
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
Male

Registered: 03/12/02
Posts: 24,855
Loc: Pandurn
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
Re: What is happiness? [Re: badreligion2good]
    #6018467 - 09/01/06 12:57 PM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Quote:

badreligion2good said:
I feel confident I'll find happiness when I get to where I want to be and get passed this part of my life.




I understand the seriousness of your life situation. Consider, though, that, even as justified as it feels, you are placing a condition on whether or not you can exist in a state of happiness, suspending the possibility of being happy into some point in the future.

I would not say to you "hey, disregard your situation, just be happy!", as it would not make sense to do so. I would simply suggest to observe your thoughts and your experience, as your life situation unfolds. Really find the root of why you feel the way you do in certain circumstances. Don't force anything, but work with your thoughts to open up some room for direct perception and understanding. :cool:

In doing so, perhaps you will find some reasons to be happy, even as your life situation isn't exactly how you would prefer to be? Really assess your situation and maybe even make a list of things that you are truly grateful for. Look at your life, in the face of everything that just flat out sucks in it, and try to see things as opportunities - opportunities for a pure experience, in this moment, and opportunities for growth and development.

Quote:


Fireworks thanks for recomending the book, I'll check it out




It is an interesting book. It sort of reads like a self-help book, but it is simply containing a great amount of insight from pre-existing sources, presented in a manner that makes it easy to access and understand. It includes an outline of a pathway towards higher levels of consciousness, but it is not necessary to formally adopt this path. :wink:

Quote:

...and nice dog it reminds me of a wolf. I always wanted a wolf like dog so I could name it wolf.




It's my Norwegian Elkhound, Odin. Odin certainly gives me a lot of opportunity for myself to be happy. :laugh: Norwegian Elkhounds seem to be very intelligent, aware animals, very independant yet compassionate... we feel a true bond with Odin.  :heart: He even has the mischevious heart of a three-year old child. :smirk:

:earth: :sun: :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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Offlinefireworks_godS
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
Male

Registered: 03/12/02
Posts: 24,855
Loc: Pandurn
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
Re: What is happiness? [Re: TODAY]
    #6018479 - 09/01/06 01:03 PM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Quote:

TODAY said:
I really don't think everyone's interpretation of happiness is the same.




This is true; in fact, I stated that the experience itself is pretty much subjective in my first reply. After all, what standard are you going to use by which to compare your experience of happiness to others? :grin:

Like I already said as well, though, I think there are a lot of similarities amongst peoples' experience of happiness, and that the mechanisms by which it is produced are likely the same - simply that the causes for and the reasons we choose to have the experience are our own.

 
Quote:


This may be because there are levels of happiness as part of a continuum between happiness and sadness.




Well, it would seem that emotional state of being itself exists as a sort of continuum, but its probably very complex, beyond two-dimensional, if I can get away with misusing the term. :lol:

:earth: :sun: :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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InvisibleTODAY
Battletoad
Male

Registered: 09/25/03
Posts: 10,218
Loc: Metropolis City, USA
Re: What is happiness? [Re: fireworks_god]
    #6019013 - 09/01/06 03:18 PM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Quote:

fireworks_god said:
Like I already said as well, though, I think there are a lot of similarities amongst peoples' experience of happiness, and that the mechanisms by which it is produced are likely the same - simply that the causes for and the reasons we choose to have the experience are our own.




The bio mechanisms are essentially the same so the interpretation of the emotion should indeed follow the same general pattern. You are right about that, I didn't think of it like that. I mean, homo sapien is a species so we can't be all that different regarding how we experience our emotions.

We definitely evaluate the emotion differently, just like we all have our own views on the economy and what the best color is (blue)


--------------------

ca'rouse (k-rouz)
intr.v.
To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking.

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InvisibleMike_yy
Male User Gallery

Registered: 10/28/05
Posts: 7,253
Re: What is happiness? [Re: badreligion2good]
    #6019061 - 09/01/06 03:33 PM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Happiness is everything and everyone that is loved by you.

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Offlinefireworks_godS
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
Male

Registered: 03/12/02
Posts: 24,855
Loc: Pandurn
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
Re: What is happiness? [Re: Mike_yy]
    #6021230 - 09/02/06 02:35 AM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Happiness is not that which is loved itself, it is an experience that results from loving those objects, or whatever. :tongue:

:earth: :sun: :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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InvisibleSinbad
Living TheMoment
Male

Registered: 12/23/04
Posts: 2,571
Loc: Under The Bodhi Tree
Re: What is happiness? [Re: badreligion2good]
    #6021351 - 09/02/06 04:15 AM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Its the age old paradox that the more one searches for happiness, the further away one is from discovering it. :grin:


--------------------

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OfflineBasilides
Servent ofWisdom
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Registered: 02/10/06
Posts: 7,059
Loc: Crown and Heart
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
Re: What is happiness? [Re: badreligion2good]
    #6021575 - 09/02/06 07:19 AM (17 years, 6 months ago)



"Why, of course, Happiness is merely a condition of the mind that only partially reflects reality."



"I beg to differ. It is completely a state of mind."



"I believe it may be entirely based environment. Pleasent environments generate positive reactions, rendering Happiness."



"Perhaps happiness... is merely the lack of sadness."



"Happiness... what is happiness? *sigh*"


--------------------


"Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is. Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death."

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Invisibleniteowl
GrandPaw
Male User Gallery

Registered: 07/01/03
Posts: 16,291
Loc: Flag
Re: What is happiness? [Re: Basilides]
    #6021870 - 09/02/06 10:31 AM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Being happy doesn't mean the world is perfect......
Just that you have learned to see beyond the imperfections...


Now where have I seen that before :grin:


--------------------
Live for the moment you are in now
Don't be bogged down by your past
Don't be afraid of what lies in your future

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InvisibleIcelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Male

Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
Re: What is happiness? [Re: badreligion2good]
    #6021981 - 09/02/06 11:21 AM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Quote:

badreligion2good said:
I've studied philosiphy myself, in school, and discussed it with people. I still dont know what happiness is. Sometimes I feel like I may have an inkling but the ideas are always fleeting. My search has brought me to try many things, but ultimately they are all unfulfilling and fleeting. I took zoloft for a while, but that wasnt happiness; I've smoked pot a lot for a while, but that wasnt happiness either; dosed on mescaline, that was fun, but it still wasnt that quintescential happiness; etc. I used to be hopeful that happiness was a chemical condition in the brain, all my experimentation has made me feel as though thats not it either. Happiness seems to only exist at certain moments under certain conditions. Can one be happy, always? How? I guess it goes back to that fundamental question: what is the good life?




For me, it's all a condition of being relaxed (even when excited). Body and mind.


--------------------
"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.

" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.

With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC

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InvisiblethatiAM
Stranger

Registered: 06/14/06
Posts: 1,250
Re: What is happiness? [Re: badreligion2good]
    #6022041 - 09/02/06 11:47 AM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Happiness stems from comfort within the temporary. Playing with a happy dog, eating a good sandwich, using drugs. We can do things that make us happy every day, and lead more or less satisfied lives. A fisher who loves the open water will probably be a happy man. It is still temporary happiness. Permanent happiness would become meaningless, where is the sadness? To recognize elation, despair is necessary.

Contentment is a permanent state of mind. Progress in spirituality, contentment comes. It is like climbing a mountain. You only go up. Happiness is like sailing to another island. You are forced up and down by the waves.

Contentment exists within and without happiness. Seeking happiness binds us to experience. Seeking contentment, even in despair, gradually removes these binds.

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InvisibleSmokenBabyJesus
Smoker of Religious Figures

Registered: 04/13/05
Posts: 1,217
Loc: Maryland
Re: What is happiness? [Re: thatiAM]
    #6022834 - 09/02/06 05:10 PM (17 years, 6 months ago)

Happiness is a reaction to various things..
to be happy is to not be sad.
what causes happiness? thats subjective...as said in prior posts..
you know what happiness is... how else could you know what isn't happiness? I think your looking for eternal happiness... and that.. that can be hard to find, when your looking... I think eternal happiness is found in not searching but understanding what stops the fleeting from fleeting.. and... well I think its our desires..Our desire to be happy during every situation is what leads us to suffering...
happiness is in knowing, not worrying, not fearing, not wanting. and not searching...
Happiness is being in the moment for the moment.


--------------------
"Where?

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