4 ms·
you did use the word "mild". but it made me wonder if not every person I've ever encountered that looked happy seemed like that a bit. The happier somebody is
by DyslexicAtheist 5y ago
you did use the word "mild". but it made me wonder if not every person I've ever encountered that looked happy seemed like that a bit.
The happier somebody is the more deluded they look to the rest of us. People in love are perhaps the most obvious. But it says probably more about the observer.
- Griffinsauce 5y agoI think this just tells you that happiness is not objective.
- Gene_Parmesan 5y agoThe specific happiness that we're talking about here is contentment -- with your life, with who you are. I think it looks so odd to so many of us because we tend to be an ambitious bunch, and I find ambition to be pretty inversely related to contentment. The sort of acceptance that this man displays feels like giving up, in a sense. And in many ways, it is -- but that's something that Buddhists have been teaching for centuries.
- mekkkkkk 5y ago"Giving up" seems to imply unfulfilled ambition, though. It only feels like giving up because we project our own ambitions onto him. If his ambition always was to lead a simple, predictable life close to nature, he's achieved flawlessly. Maybe I'm just re-stating what you said, sorry.
- Gene_Parmesan 5y agoNo, yeah, I agree totally with what you're saying. It feels like giving up to us but that is a whole lot of projection.
- tonyedgecombe 5y agoI can't find the link now but I remember reading a study that showed that mildly depressed people have the most realistic outlook on the world.