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If people choose to be unhappy, that's a problem that can only be handled in people's social and private lives. Happiness is orthogonal to success, once you're

If people choose to be unhappy, that's a problem that can only be handled in people's social and private lives. Happiness is orthogonal to success, once you're not being brutalized by the world through no fault of your own. I feel blessed that I have time to write comments to strangers on the internet, that I have access to the internet, that the house I'm in is temperature controlled within 5°C, that I do not fear my neighbours.

PavlovsCat 7y ago
> Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer. > This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me. -- Bertrand Russell Personally, what additional happiness I could get from not suffering, because of the things he mentions and more, I wouldn't want. That pain is a signal, and to bear it, to use it, rather than numb it or dismiss it as mere party pooping is one of the skills of life IMO.
- microcolonel 7y ago
  Sure, there's a difference between complacency and gratitude.
  - PavlovsCat 7y ago
    It's not that I disagree with you, I just agree with both.. I think sadness has a place, and I think wanting to be grateful and seeing the positive in life is a choice, and also important. > I pity people who can't find laughter or at least some bit of amusement in the little doings of the day. I believe I could find something ridiculous even in the saddest moment, if necessary. It has nothing to do with being superficial. It's a matter of joy in life. -- Sophie Scholl
harimau777 7y ago
I see what you're saying and I definitely think there's truth in it (both Cognitive Therapy and Stoicism are based on the idea that happiness is controlled by our thoughts). However, I do think that there is more to it than that. There are things that the average person has gained in the past decades but there are also things that people have lost. I think it is possible that some of the things that have been lost such as home ownership, connection to community, a high rate a marriage, autonomous work (e.g. working as an artisan, independent farmer, or small business owner) are more important to happiness than the luxuries that we gained. I also think that its possible that some of the luxuries that we've gains (e.g. microwavable food, reality TV, cheap clothing) bring less happiness than the luxuries that are now less common (e.g. engagement with the arts). However, this certainly isn't true of all of the luxuries that we've gained (e.g. antibiotics, the ability to video chat with family on the other side of the world). Finally, I think it is possible that society plays a role in how likely people are to have or develop the thought processes that you correctly point out lead to happiness. For example, it seems to me that American society often does a poor job of encouraging people to express themselves and to be themselves (e.g. by emphasizing art, toxic masculinity, etc.) which could lead to less confidence and satisfaction. Note that when I say "be themselves" I am referring to lifestyle and expression not the idea that people need to "follow their dreams" to be successful.

PavlovsCat 7y ago

> Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer. > This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me. -- Bertrand Russell Personally, what additional happiness I could get from not suffering, because of the things he mentions and more, I wouldn't want. That pain is a signal, and to bear it, to use it, rather than numb it or dismiss it as mere party pooping is one of the skills of life IMO.

microcolonel 7y ago
Sure, there's a difference between complacency and gratitude.
- PavlovsCat 7y ago
  It's not that I disagree with you, I just agree with both.. I think sadness has a place, and I think wanting to be grateful and seeing the positive in life is a choice, and also important. > I pity people who can't find laughter or at least some bit of amusement in the little doings of the day. I believe I could find something ridiculous even in the saddest moment, if necessary. It has nothing to do with being superficial. It's a matter of joy in life. -- Sophie Scholl

harimau777 7y ago

I see what you're saying and I definitely think there's truth in it (both Cognitive Therapy and Stoicism are based on the idea that happiness is controlled by our thoughts). However, I do think that there is more to it than that. There are things that the average person has gained in the past decades but there are also things that people have lost. I think it is possible that some of the things that have been lost such as home ownership, connection to community, a high rate a marriage, autonomous work (e.g. working as an artisan, independent farmer, or small business owner) are more important to happiness than the luxuries that we gained. I also think that its possible that some of the luxuries that we've gains (e.g. microwavable food, reality TV, cheap clothing) bring less happiness than the luxuries that are now less common (e.g. engagement with the arts). However, this certainly isn't true of all of the luxuries that we've gained (e.g. antibiotics, the ability to video chat with family on the other side of the world). Finally, I think it is possible that society plays a role in how likely people are to have or develop the thought processes that you correctly point out lead to happiness. For example, it seems to me that American society often does a poor job of encouraging people to express themselves and to be themselves (e.g. by emphasizing art, toxic masculinity, etc.) which could lead to less confidence and satisfaction. Note that when I say "be themselves" I am referring to lifestyle and expression not the idea that people need to "follow their dreams" to be successful.