miestas
Junior Member
Posts: 74 
Age Range: 61-65
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Post by miestas on Apr 3, 2016 14:16:55 GMT -5
Related to my last post.
Trusting in your happiness, and parenthetically the people who profess to bring it to you, is too dangerous. True, non-fleeting happiness, the kind not associated with seeing a pretty butterfly, or winning a free cup of coffee at Starbucks, usually takes a great deal of time and effort to achieve. It makes you vulnerable to manipulation so people can get what they want out of you. It can be removed permanently and instantly with something equally as ephemeral, such as a few words, or the stroke of the digital pen.
Sadness, on the other hand, is totally dependable. It is instantly and permanently achieved with great ease. See above reference. It will never be eradicated. It may be suppressed to lose the sharp edges, but it will always be with you from the moment you achieve it until the moment you die or have permanent brain damage. It is instantly and forever a part of who you are.
Trust your sadness. At least it will never leave you.
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Post by tamara68 on Apr 7, 2016 4:44:27 GMT -5
This sounds depressing.
What I hear you say is that you value the certainty of sadness over the uncertainty of happiness.
Being used to a situation that is predictable and not knowing what might happen if you get yourself in a different situation is probably one of the reasons why so many people stay in a bad and sad relationship.
I think you should not chose for sadness or trust it. I think the challenge is to live your life and be happy with all the happy moments. Not chase a miraculous form of happiness and not be afraid of the bad and sad moments that will happen too.
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Post by petrushka on Apr 13, 2016 9:29:13 GMT -5
First, the happiness has to come from within. Not from the people who profess to bring it to you - those are advertising agencies and they lie through their brilliantly white teeth.
Happiness IS ephemeral. We have moments of it here and there. If you were to live in a permanent state of euphoria, people would think you insane, and you would never know that you are happy because there's nothing to offset it against.
Only a true Zen master would be able to see it for what it is.
"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water."
Sadness and emotional pain should be as ephemeral as happiness, in a sane and well ordered life. If they are not, if they are constant, then you are doing something wrong. You are standing in a cesspit with shit up to your neck and you haven't got the sense to get out of there ....
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Post by DryCreek on Apr 14, 2016 13:25:34 GMT -5
In Yin and Yang fashion, I'll suggest that happiness and misery are relative states, and almost entirely dependent on your own attitude.
Sure, there are absolutes to misery and bliss. But from an individual's point of view it's more about your frame of reference. Things that bring you no joy would cause incredible happiness to someone who has lived without. And we see millionaires leaping to their death because of a market crash.
So, yes, if we take for granted all the good things in life, then we are only swayed by the exceptions. Life appears to be bland. Bland gets lumped in with the negatives, and the positives might seem to be rare and fleeting.
Move that bar. Recognize the positives in daily life, and life will seem to be predominantly good with only a few negatives.
DC's armchair philosophy for the day...
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