Are You Happy?

[Legba]

I choose to be happy!

[Qryos]

I agree. I am content. There are things I want but nothing I need. Methinks one must learn to be content...it's a process of self acceptance and acceptance of conditions both external and internal. I don't mean that as a resignation or being succumbed, but rather to work with, and use to the best of my ability, those things and conditions that I find myself in.

Being content does not imply that I am always happy. Things make me happy, people make me happy. Momentarily. They can also make me sad. Happiness is conditional and temporary.

~ Thank you Raninbow!

All these shiny people were making me feel a bit... { well yes, I already knew it, but thanks for thinking it for me } off

But some of these descriptions of 'happy'...

I don't even need my toes to count how often I have felt joyous & ebullient & freaked-out everyone who knows me

I'm not even really sure what 'happy' means.

Is it when I'm doing a good job & I make others smile & appreciative? That feeling? Of being useful & doing good? That makes me smile.

I do so enjoy my family & home & pets. They give me comfort & need me & so make me smile. So I guess that's happiness, huh?

[Argonious]

I am sometimes very Happy and, sometimes very saddend. I think it is just my nature to feel the emotions of what is around me. Being Content is always a state in which I try and be. The use of noncontentment is a waste of energy, when there are many things in life to be content with. Life is a contentment, to Live and Feel its energy of being.

[VonNoble]

I try and avoid the extremes.

There is never a time I am not grateful.

Von

[panpareil]

All in all, I would rather be happy than not. So I am.

Although, I have been in circumstances where this was not immediately possible, and took a great deal of work.

[old_nick]

I am happy when happiness is warranted, sad when sadness is warranted, angry when anger is warranted, etc. Each serves a useful purpose and each should be experienced without excess. As for content, that depends upon the subject itself. The world is filled with vile ignorant people and as long as that remains great amounts of positive potential are squandered. I want to see humanity live up to its potential. As long as superstition and a hundred other problems remain, that will never happen.

[Raven's Trikes]

I am happy when happiness is warranted, sad when sadness is warranted, angry when anger is warranted, etc. Each serves a useful purpose and each should be experienced without excess. As for content, that depends upon the subject itself. The world is filled with vile ignorant people and as long as that remains great amounts of positive potential are squandered. I want to see humanity live up to its potential. As long as superstition and a hundred other problems remain, that will never happen.

I have to agree, because its so true. As for myself, all I can say is that once I got over my identity issues, things finally started to happen for me. Kirby always said that most problems boil down to an issue with "identity"...

[Pete]

When I was in my teens I remember some evangelists (Moonies I think) coming around knocking on doors. They knock at my Father's door. As an attempt to put their foot in the door so to speak they said they were doing a survey and required to know if my Father was happy.

He said "Oh Yes, Deliriously so" and slammed the door. I remember seeing their startled looks from my bedroom window.

Obviously not the response they wanted.

Edited November 30, 2011 by Pete

[Qryos]

The world is filled with vile ignorant people

~ nick, I'm sorry that you feel that way.

I'll agree that the world does have many ignorant people, so many are not offered opportunities to learn. But I don't believe the world is filled with vile people.

{ & certainly not all ignorant folk are vile nor all vile are ignorant. Unfortunately some of the most vile are quite educated, huh? }

Yes, even tho' I work in retail & meet quite a large range of people often unhappy & stressed or just being mean because they can, most are quite nice...

I realise it's a very small bit of the world, but I have found generally that treating people nicely & simply expecting them to act civilized most often they do.

That makes me happy

[old_nick]

~ nick, I'm sorry that you feel that way.

I'll agree that the world does have many ignorant people, so many are not offered opportunities to learn. But I don't believe the world is filled with vile people.

{ & certainly not all ignorant folk are vile nor all vile are ignorant. Unfortunately some of the most vile are quite educated, huh? }

Yes, even tho' I work in retail & meet quite a large range of people often unhappy & stressed or just being mean because they can, most are quite nice...

I realise it's a very small bit of the world, but I have found generally that treating people nicely & simply expecting them to act civilized most often they do.

That makes me happy

In my opinion, an ignorant person choosing to remain ignorant is one of the most vile of all personality traits. Even worse is an ignorant person choosing to spread their ignorance to other. That is the very basis of superstition and theistic religion. It's frankly disgusting. I often feel physically ill around such people. There is so much unlimited potential in the human animal, so very much we as a species could do if we took the opportunity. Seeing that wasted is both sad and revolting. Seeing it wasted on imaginary nonsense is all the worse.

[Fawzo]

Hmmm.....let me think. Do vile ignorant people or people who lack compassion for others upset me more?

[Songster]

There is no deeper death than ignorance and unbelief.- The Aquarian Age Gospel of Jesus Chapter 91, verse 44

[Qryos]

In my opinion, an ignorant person choosing to remain ignorant is one of the most vile of all personality traits. Even worse is an ignorant person choosing to spread their ignorance to other. That is the very basis of superstition and theistic religion. It's frankly disgusting. I often feel physically ill around such people. There is so much unlimited potential in the human animal, so very much we as a species could do if we took the opportunity. Seeing that wasted is both sad and revolting. Seeing it wasted on imaginary nonsense is all the worse.

~ nick, personally I'm not surprised you feel ill... you seem to hold such contempt and anger for so many people... it's really not healthy for you

Try to remember all that imagination & creativity has gifted us with! 'imaginary nonsense' is part of the creative human mind too, even if you don't like it.

{ Personally, I don't care for modern art & Picasso's work looks like vomit, but hey, different strokes for different folks y'know? }

I'm not a religious person m'self, I just find it interesting how & why different religions affect people.

I like people. I like puzzles too

[old_nick]

~ nick, personally I'm not surprised you feel ill

Only when dealing with those who choose to be ignorant.

... you seem to hold such contempt and anger for so many people

More pity than anger. But there is definitely contempt. How dare a person choose to squander the tools we have evolved that they were fortunate enough to be born with when there are so many lesser fortunate out there. Would you throw away good food in front of the starving? Pour out a bottle of water because it is lukewarm when there is someone dying of thirst nearby? Then why would you waste natural inclination for intelligence when there are so many without? Wasting our greatest evolutionary trait on superstition, wishful thinking, and intentional idiocy is not something that should ever be respected. But you, others here, and society in general want people to do just that.

... it's really not healthy for you

Neither is allowing the weeds choking of the garden to thrive.

Try to remember all that imagination & creativity has gifted us with! 'imaginary nonsense' is part of the creative human mind too, even if you don't like it.

{ Personally, I don't care for modern art & Picasso's work looks like vomit, but hey, different strokes for different folks y'know? }

You're confusing my phrase and making a straw man from it. I did not say imagination is bad. I did not say creativity is bad. I said imaginary(adjective) nonsense(noun). Now, to what nonsense directed? Clearly the context of discussion indicates that nonsense would be superstition, theism, and foolishness of that vein. Believing in a god is not a gift. It is not a good thing. It is not a tolerable thing. Theism and superstition take with them attrocity everywhere they choose to show their vile head. How very far has scientific and medical advancement been set back over the past 1800 years because of Christianity, as an example. How many people have been tortured, brutalized, and killed because they did not fit some faith's description of what is good or right. So no, the context is clear, the imaginary nonsense is not the work of Dali or Grieg as your strawman would indicate. It is the very dangerous nonsense of superstition.

I'm not a religious person m'self, I just find it interesting how & why different religions affect people.

I like people. I like puzzles too

I like the potential of people. I love puzzles. And I do enjoy studying religion and superstitions. I find them fascinating and fun. The problems come when people confuse them for reality.

[Qryos]

~ I apologise old_nick. Evidently I wasn't clear in my phrasing

I wasn't debating with you, I was talking to you.

I did not intend any straw man argument or any argument of any kind.

I was just attempting to talk friend-to-friend... Please forgive me for not being clear

[old_nick]

~ I apologise old_nick. Evidently I wasn't clear in my phrasing

I wasn't debating with you, I was talking to you.

I did not intend any straw man argument or any argument of any kind.

I was just attempting to talk friend-to-friend... Please forgive me for not being clear

All things are an argument, in the end. Life is war. We are at war with our very surroundings. Each moment there is other life waiting to fill the niche in which you stand. It's brutal, it's hard, it'd be cruel if nature were a thinking feeling thing. I do believe, though, that we have a moral imperative to use the brain knowledge has given us to find a way to minimize the brutality of life(Human driven intelligent design). But, as long as there are people who waste it on things such as superstition, we'll be stuck in that war. It'd almost be worth deliberately modifying the human brain to be incapable of "religious" experience as it is neurological phenomena and nothing more.

[Dan56]

I do believe, though, that we have a moral imperative to use the brain knowledge has given us to find a way to minimize the brutality of life(Human driven intelligent design).

Like "loving your enemy and forgiving others"? I think superstition agrees with you.

[old_nick]

Like "loving your enemy and forgiving others"? I think superstition agrees with you.

Coming from a collection of books that advocates selling one's daughter into sexual slavery as a result of her being raped, demands genocide on multiple occasions, and generally peddles stupidity, that quote means less than nothing to me. Your argument is a consequentialist argument. You'd have us believe the ends justify the means. They do not.

[Qryos]

~ I'm sorry, I don't agree with arguments. Yes, I know you could say my disagreeing with argumentation is an argument...

I won't argue with it.

You could probably call me a rather seaweed-type of person, I go with the flow & avoid confrontation.

Not just because it makes me uncomfortable but also I've found that it doesn't do any good...

Personalities get bumped & bruises cause escalation & it just seems like a silly waste of energy and time.

Could be wrong of course, often am!

[To`na Wanagi]

All things are an argument, in the end. Life is war. We are at war with our very surroundings. Each moment there is other life waiting to fill the niche in which you stand. It's brutal, it's hard, it'd be cruel if nature were a thinking feeling thing. I do believe, though, that we have a moral imperative to use the brain knowledge has given us to find a way to minimize the brutality of life(Human driven intelligent design). But, as long as there are people who waste it on things such as superstition, we'll be stuck in that war. It'd almost be worth deliberately modifying the human brain to be incapable of "religious" experience as it is neurological phenomena and nothing more.

These are the things of which you state nick, which scare the hell out of me. These are the very instruments and thoughts of people the likes of Dr. Mengele and the newest mad scientists who advocate eugenics and want to play god. I think the human race has done quite enough damage to this earth and to our own species by those who think they are superior to others and are entitled to commit genocide. While you criticize those who have a faith/belief in a higher power and the instruments of those faiths, you eschew the very same mentality by suggesting human demi-gods alter the human condition through a lobotomizing of the brain. IMO, that is an indication of a very troubled mind.