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Happiness and the Art of Being (2012)
- drewcoo 5y agohttps://www.kvnf.org/news/2016-03-24/satanic-pamphlets-soon-available-in-delta-county-schools https://www.kvnf.org/news/2016-03-24/satanic-pamphlets-soon-...
- namero999 5y agoCan you elaborate on how you think this is relevant? Honest question. By the way, I would totally support such an initiative, but not with the goal of eventually removing all religious material, rather to avoid single perspectives.
- Hardik_Shah 5y agoOur true nature, our essential being, is happiness. The transient happiness that we appear to derive from external experiences arises only from within ourselves, and is felt as a result of the temporary calming of our mind that occurs whenever any of our desires are fulfilled.
- totetsu 5y agoI think I'm quite willing to go on experiencing the ever present background levels of existential suffering if it means I can keep an extroverted mind and not have to spend all my time attending to my own essential self-conscious being.
- namero999 5y agoInterestingly, his core point is that your own essential being is not self-conscious.
- systemsignal 5y agoI think would probably make you more extroverted and more effective. Here’s another perspective on similar teachings http://happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2018/03/updating-your-brains-software.html http://happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2018/03/updating-...
- mdp2021 5y ago"What a burden, to breathe, having learned to stand straight, to be able to read". Has the poster had the suspect that it does not work that way? This is why some disciplines have rules of discretion. It would have grounds to think of a parallel reality in which a special flag in HN is used, hitting posts implying that "Javascript is just scripted Java". (Asking and implying have different consequences.)
- evancaine 5y agoPleasantly surprised to see this on HN. In the minefield of the spiritual marketplace, where you can never be sure which teachers are authentic and which aren't, Michael James is worth a look. Sometimes a little dry and repetitive, but steadfast in his message and his adoration for his teacher.
- cocoland2 5y agoFirst page on HN :) well .. well.. Timeless perspective. Got an introduction first by reading "A search in Secret India" by Paul Brunton and then on talks on Youtube (Voice of Rishis , Robert and Sarvapriyananda) , changed me in so many different ways for the better.
- 50 5y agoTo piggyback: If anyone is interested in more of this line of thinking, i.e., self-enquiry, nondualism, etc, there is a wonderful series of introductory lectures on vedantist-thought by Swami Sarvapriyananda[1]. A line of thinking which, if I may add, influenced literary figures like Emerson, Tolstoy, and Yeats[2]. Above all, it reminds me of an idea I recently came across from a blog I follow: "A stronger link needs to be made between "liberation" in the revolutionary, social/political, decolonial sense, and "liberation" in the mystical, ego-dissolving, soteriological sense." 1. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBh-iYJ1Q_hQSUXzV7GtTDN5Tsoe4eRpv https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBh-iYJ1Q_hQSUXzV7GtT... 2. https://swarajyamag.com/culture/ten-writers-and-their-interaction-with-indian-thought-and-spirituality https://swarajyamag.com/culture/ten-writers-and-their-intera...
- thyrox 5y agoAnother practical and time tested guide to happiness and the art of being for the rest of us: https://i.imgur.com/lKwnHKd.jpg https://i.imgur.com/lKwnHKd.jpg
- namero999 5y agoThat's just how happiness looks like when observed across a dissociative boundary :D
- spacemanmatt 5y agoAh yes, those are literally the only reasons anyone is happy.
- mensetmanusman 5y agoSo the happiest man in the world is sitting outside petting a cat in the sunshine while watching a movie.
- mspaper 5y agoMaybe he's eating a snack too.
- zemvpferreira 5y agoThrow in fellatio and you have me sold.
- mdp2021 5y agoExplicitly: it's a commentary over Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.
- glutamate 5y ago> So long as our mind is extroverted, attending to anything other than our own essential self-conscious being, we can never experience perfect, permanent and unqualified happiness. Meh, I think Tolstoy had it right: There is only one enduring happiness in life—to live for others. I am not surprised that HN buys into this individualism. Here is Chris Hedges discussing how Tolstoy's insight applies the age of social media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwnynLc2U4Q&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwnynLc2U4Q&t=1s
- namero999 5y agoIf you follow the thread all the way you'll discover that in this philosophy, whose roots are to be found in the mystical tradition of Hinduism - Advaita Vedanta, your essential conscious being is shared (I'm wary of the western use of "self-conscious", that is why I have omitted it). Therefore, what is really being said is that without the realization that our most intimate identity is (===, reference equality) that of everything else, happiness (defined as equanimity) cannot be achieved. It is actually the opposite of individualism.
- mdp2021 5y agoYou have misunderstood the point to the level of "Einstein and moral relativity". Applied to the context you put (cultivation and others), it's along the lines of "perform surgery while sober vs drunk". You misunderstood because of the imperfect summary from the commenter, and because of the un-realization that the use language implies very large amounts of interpretational space - explicitly. You have to understand those expressions through the understanding of the full discipline. And: the context is not in the realm of "I think", it's not a philosophy: it's meant to be research.
- circlefavshape 5y ago> So long as our mind is extroverted, attending to anything other than our own essential self-conscious being, we can never experience perfect, permanent and unqualified happiness Perfect, permanent, and unqualified happiness. So in order to achieve impossible state X, we must do impossible thing Y?
- newusertoday 5y agono you should just "stop doing" whatever you are doing and you are already perfect.
- cocoland2 5y agoWhat i understand is a slight difference. It is not about stop doing but in understanding it is getting "done through you"
- newusertoday 5y agoyes that is also correct but the "you" is different in these two interpretations. When you understand it is getting "done through you" you also understand that there is no "you" as in person. If you consider yourself doing domething than you stop doing it and be and hopefully come to same realization.
- bobthechef 5y ago
- Arjuna144 5y agoFor me, it all comes down to self-experiment! There is no one outside of me, whom I trust to investigate the very nature of my very own being. For me that is the beauty in the ancient science of yoga. All it is, is an experimental set-up that has to be executed by the scientist (e.g. the yogi) to validate the experimental results. Nothing to believe, no guru to follow... Just a deep dive into that which lies beyond the chatter of the mind and the impressions of the senses. It.is.awesome!
- terminalcommand 5y agoAre you self taught?
- amelius 5y agoDo you publish somewhere?
- trabant00 5y ago> perfect, permanent and unqualified happiness I would call that insanity. I have this theory of mine since spending time in drug circles. The drug users spend time as well chasing "perfect, permanent and unqualified happiness". And with substances you can achieve the unqualified part. The perfect and permanent parts not really since tolerance comes into play. Anyway, my theory is that unhappiness is absolutely necessary. Happiness means you are content with what is. And you take action when you want to change to what could be, what you want. But if you are already happy then you don't want to change anything, so you don't do anything even if you absolutely should. There are a lot of things that tend to prove that unhappiness and its companion - the pursuit of happiness - are the most important motivators. Negative news, commercials, propaganda, populist discourse and so on.
- raptorraver 5y agoIn human life there is and will be suffering. Escaping it won't make you happy. Accepting it and finding a purpose for your suffering can make you happy but it's quite a different kind of happiness that you see in movies.
- koide 5y agoYes, I think that the word happy and happiness are wrong words. Acceptance or contentment are better words, but are not as attractive. If you think about permanent acceptance then you can actually see it happening. It's permanent euphoria what's unachievable.
- Thursday24 5y agoThe eastern traditions encourage something called "Skilled interpretation". What's skilled interpreations? Picking causes that cause happiness, avoiding causes that lead to unhappiness. And to train the mind in such a way that if one indeed reaches a place of unhappiness, quickly rebalancing the mind to return to serenity, peace and happiness. Skilled interpreation is a continuous process to maintain serenity.
- mdp2021 5y ago> unhappiness ... necessary No, no, no, no, no. Deontic action is performed irregardless of contentedness. Unhappiness is not a requirement for motivation. Improvement of your suit is not impeded by the utter perfection of your armchair. And, optimal state and false diagnostics ("I fixed the issues by having the `test()` function just `return True`") are diametrically opposite. If the misunderstanding comes out of misunderstanding of concepts, this is why some of us insist on the importance of the awareness of language - the sheer elementary gain out it will be a "Careful with that word, Eugene".
- ketamine 5y agoI have been continuing my ketamine therapy and the insights revealed align with this writing from what I read in the intro. > ... the aim of this book is to prompt each one of us to think more deeply about the reality of all that we as a seemingly limited individual consciousness experience and know ... I find that fitting in some regard given what I experience and how much is going on in our mind all the time. I am glad this was posted today. Perfect timing. Will be curious to see how it stands as a whole.
- roansh 5y agoI've been exploring these thoughts. I think the more we are lost in our own thoughts, thinking about the "I", the more unhappy we become. Every emotion stems from the "I". When we let go of the "I", the ego, things calm down. So ultimately, to become happy, I think you could try to train your mind to let go of your ego. This is a hard thing to do, but not impossible. Psychadelics, and meditation help. This is not a mind trick either, it's the ultimate truth? There's no me & you. In 150 years, every human being alive today is going to die. We are all going to dissolve into the same thing. So, I can argue that, with time being the difference, you and I are the same! There's no us vs them. It's just us. It also fits in line with "doing something for others"[1]. The more we concern ourselves with others, the better we feel. Because we lose ourselves. I think it also fits in line with if you can get in "flow" states while doing some activity. If it is what you can concern yourself with. The end result is the same - you lose yourself in it, and feel calm. The comment[2] below raises a good question -- I used to think the same. That happiness is overrated, and we should rather go after suffering. But there's a flaw in that thinking. Suffering is not a necessary condition to do something useful. One can recognise a lack of something, work towards fulfilling a desire, and still be happy. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30787818 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30787818 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30788318 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30788318 By the way, could someone please write about these terms? "non-dual self-knowledge", "duality, multiplicity and relativity". I googled but I don't quite understand them.
- chousuke 5y agoOne part of it is figuring out who you are and acting accordingly. However, a persistent problem I face with any approach to pursuing happiness is how to get my body to perform the things that would make me happy instead of the things some unconscious part of me chooses to direct it to do; those things are rarely the same. I quite literally and frequently feel like I have no or extremely limited conscious control over my actions, and to make myself do something I want to do that the unconscious executor strongly disagrees with due to anxiety or ADHD or whatever, I have to set things up so that there is literally no other option. That's pretty difficult to do, and quite stressful. I'm also someone who needs to be constantly doing things because when I'm not distracted, my brain tends to start generating thoughts that lead to severe emotional pain; again, something I don't have much control over.
- slibhb 5y agoI'm skeptical of "non-dual self knowledge". Maybe the subject-object distinction "is an illusion" but it seems like a necessary one. Would morality exist without a subject-object (or subject-subject, meaning two invdividuals) distinction? What would human behavior look like? How could we distinguish between a violent crime and a kind act? How could we make judgements? By what standard would an enlightened person who has dissolved the subject-object distinction prefer to be enlightened than not? See also: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/16/is-enlightenment-compatible-with-sex-scandals https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/16/is-enlightenment-compa...
- wantlotsofcurry 5y agoI love being introduced to articles like this and the Kung Fu Panda one from yesterday. They seem to always show up on here just at the right time, when you need them most. Thanks!
- roansh 5y agoThey are always around :) you notice them when you need them?
- kgwxd 5y agoYou also notice them when they're the last thing you want to hear. When I'm content (aka bored) I find myself buying into it. When I'm having an actual hard time, I find myself mentally shouting at the screen to shut the fuck up with all this pretentious bullshit. Today I'm bored.
- thallukrish 5y agoThe more you think about enlightenment, the more you are away from it.