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Honestly, the thought that looking into a monospaced font for the rest of your life is a horrible way to spend your life and that there's something inherently b

Honestly, the thought that looking into a monospaced font for the rest of your life is a horrible way to spend your life and that there's something inherently better to do seems like a deeply flawed thought. Of course, you can be spending time with your loved ones. Or, you could be jumping out of a plane with a parachute. But, whether you're doing an extreme sport, being with your family, or just staring into a terminal, your mind is exactly the same. If you're unhappy, you'll be be just as unhappy spending time with your family as you are spending time staring into a terminal. If your happiness depends on where your body is or who you talk to, you are bound to spend life suffering (as most people do I suppose).

BriggyDwiggs42 3y ago
Wait really? “If you're unhappy, you'll be be just as unhappy spending time with your family as you are spending time staring into a terminal.” I mean, you could say this for any two things and it would be equally silly. Happiness is often the consequence of an environment.
- dirtyhippiefree 3y ago
  Then again, there are people who are uncomfortable being happy, people who are only happy when others are unhappy, people who believe happiness is impossible…the list is endless and all of them are valid, even if we don’t agree…or believe they exist…
wharvle 3y ago
> If you're unhappy, you'll be be just as unhappy spending time with your family as you are spending time staring into a terminal. If this is coming from either Buddhist or Stoic traditions, both of those strongly emphasize practice and right action. You achieve a calm flow of happiness through right thought and right deed. Maintaining peace in chaos or pain doesn't mean chaos and pain are indistinguishable from other external circumstances, even to a Ruling Mind. There are excellent reasons for traditions of monasticism to exist, for instance, and to often prescribe activities and mandate separation from common sources of chaos and distraction. There's such a thing as doing enlightenment on Hard Mode, and practically nobody can manage that. Thought and deed, and circumstances that tend to come about by right deed and by choices made in attempting to bring about a calm state of being, are vital to long-term practice. Neither tradition is delusional, in this way.
matwood 3y ago
If you haven't already read it, read A Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl. Even in death/concentration camps, people found meaning in their life and thus happiness.

BriggyDwiggs42 3y ago

Wait really? “If you're unhappy, you'll be be just as unhappy spending time with your family as you are spending time staring into a terminal.” I mean, you could say this for any two things and it would be equally silly. Happiness is often the consequence of an environment.

dirtyhippiefree 3y ago
Then again, there are people who are uncomfortable being happy, people who are only happy when others are unhappy, people who believe happiness is impossible…the list is endless and all of them are valid, even if we don’t agree…or believe they exist…

wharvle 3y ago

> If you're unhappy, you'll be be just as unhappy spending time with your family as you are spending time staring into a terminal. If this is coming from either Buddhist or Stoic traditions, both of those strongly emphasize practice and right action. You achieve a calm flow of happiness through right thought and right deed. Maintaining peace in chaos or pain doesn't mean chaos and pain are indistinguishable from other external circumstances, even to a Ruling Mind. There are excellent reasons for traditions of monasticism to exist, for instance, and to often prescribe activities and mandate separation from common sources of chaos and distraction. There's such a thing as doing enlightenment on Hard Mode, and practically nobody can manage that. Thought and deed, and circumstances that tend to come about by right deed and by choices made in attempting to bring about a calm state of being, are vital to long-term practice. Neither tradition is delusional, in this way.

matwood 3y ago

If you haven't already read it, read A Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl. Even in death/concentration camps, people found meaning in their life and thus happiness.