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Being happy is the wrong goal. What is intelligence anyway? We don't know. Not really. We have an idea of what we associate with intelligent behavior but we do

Being happy is the wrong goal. What is intelligence anyway? We don't know. Not really. We have an idea of what we associate with intelligent behavior but we don't really have a good theory of intelligence that we can use to create intelligence. The reason I think happiness is the wrong goal is because it's a by product of the right goal. Not the goal itself. That which fulfills you should reward you with a feeling of happiness. For example, my children give me happiness when they get to roam and be children. But when I must discipline my kids they get sad and I get sad. There's an error here in my parenting that I'm trying to minimize. It's difficult but it requires me to not take it on myself to shoulder their burdens. They have to work through most of their issues on their own and I cannot protect them from the world. Trying to shield them from it will probably make everyone unhappy. My work makes me feel important but it doesn't make me feel happy. Having a good working relationship with my co-workers rewards me with happiness and meaning. I don't aim for happiness but I'm quite happy. Not all the time but when I care about the right things I do feel genuinely happy.

sunny3 5y ago
I'm of the opinion that happiness shouldn't be a goal of my life, for different reasons. Perhaps I don't fully understand the word "happiness", but I've always considered it to be a rather transient state of mind: it's always on the order of hours for me, which means I don't feel happy for most of my waking hours (although one can certainly argue that one only needs e.g., 2 hours of a day of happiness, to be "happy"). Combined with the hedonistic treadmill, happiness is more like golden nuggets that one stumble upon on a path to somewhere rather than the path or destination itself. The problem with this view though, I've found, is that it's difficult to find goals and meanings elsewhere. The vast, vast majority of people are after happiness, which makes much of the social construct centered around obtaining it and conditions me for that goal as well. It's very difficult to find alternative an alternative goal (I do believe it's easier to live life if there's a goal, not that there should be one).

sunny3 5y ago

I'm of the opinion that happiness shouldn't be a goal of my life, for different reasons. Perhaps I don't fully understand the word "happiness", but I've always considered it to be a rather transient state of mind: it's always on the order of hours for me, which means I don't feel happy for most of my waking hours (although one can certainly argue that one only needs e.g., 2 hours of a day of happiness, to be "happy"). Combined with the hedonistic treadmill, happiness is more like golden nuggets that one stumble upon on a path to somewhere rather than the path or destination itself. The problem with this view though, I've found, is that it's difficult to find goals and meanings elsewhere. The vast, vast majority of people are after happiness, which makes much of the social construct centered around obtaining it and conditions me for that goal as well. It's very difficult to find alternative an alternative goal (I do believe it's easier to live life if there's a goal, not that there should be one).