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Fair enough. If I'm hearing you right, your point is that we should be careful about society only crafting one message about happiness, because we could lead t
by ekanes 12y ago
Fair enough.
If I'm hearing you right, your point is that we should be careful about society only crafting one message about happiness, because we could lead that man into the wrong unhappy situation.
I do think the evidence is pretty strong that friends/community is correlated with happiness, though it's an interesting theoretical question whether or not it's correlated without causation.
People who tend to be happy might also tend to like being part of a community.
I do believe the relationship is causative, but admit it's a hard thing to prove.
- sliverstorm 12y agoI doubt there are many people whose lives are not bettered by friends & loved ones. The hitch, I think, is when we try to prescribe how & when people should acquire them. E.g., your culture pushes you into marriage at a young age "because having a spouse and kids will make you happy" when in reality having the right spouse will make you happy and the wrong one won't. Since you were pushed, maybe you didn't make a good choice in spouse. Similar things could be said about shallow/forced/artificial friendships. While everyone benefits from good friends, what those friends are like and how you find and bond with them differs for different people So maybe it's important to deliver the message that people are what matter, but also important not to try to force when or who or where, and let people find their own way.