What is happiness? How do we find it? Everyone seems to be looking for it, including myself. I have seen lot of people who spend all their money to gain it. Do we gain it through vacation trips, alcohol, shopping and other materialistic experiences? Who knows maybe that is the way to achieve happiness!
But the way I see it, when we engage in these things we loose control of our minds. Our mind is focused on temporary pleasure. It is an un-human behavior. Aren't human's supposed to be intellectual hence letting mind wander into temporary bliss lead to animal like behavior and hence making happiness temporary (since as humans, by default we need intellectual stimulus to sustain) This un-human behavior does not lead to a permanent state of happiness.
Is there a permanent state of happiness? Most religions say there is? There is a concept of Bakthi in Hinduism where one can reach internal bliss. Buddhism speaks of Mahayana (salvation.) Etc. Is religion the answer to happiness? To me religion is too complicated to understand or practice in a day to day life. So how do I find happiness when religion puts me in the state of confusion?
Here is a thought...
If you were at a party and the host wanted to introduce you to a guy who is always happy. He has never been through any tough situation. He had everything in life: money, education, perfect parents, looks etc. He had it easy. Would you be interested in meeting this person to learn more about him? What if the host wanted to introduce you to a guy who had to go through rough spots in life? He had to climb the ladder slowly with set backs constantly. Who would you be more interested to meet?
Maybe life is not about having happiness every second of your life. If we were happy always then we would be boring for ourselves let along others. Maybe subconsciously we choose to be unhappy since we won’t want to be boring to ourselves. If there were permanent blissful happiness then we would not grow hence an intellectual stimulus, we would be animals never wanting to change, just reacting to situation. So wouldn’t you say non-happy moments are necessary to grow (basic human need) and hence lead to happiness since a basic human need is met?
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7 comments:
oh , how I pity that poor guy. Hey common, people with a smooth past SHOULD get a chance:-), May be what seems uninteresting from outside will look interesting when he unfolds.
I don't think she means that you would find someone else uninteresting if they had a simple life. I think she means one would find themselves uninteresting if they themselves didn't go through rough patches.
Unhappiness is necessary for happiness.
Hi Anonymous,
you are a genius.
How could you figure it out!!
It's simple. Toya can read my mind :D
Vell vell vel... i disagree that u cant be happy all the time... The main thing that matters is what makes u happy... How u want to be happy... Infact what makes u happy.
Every moment u live can bring a different kind of hapiness. The only difference is the Magnitude.
The best example is me.... I get happinesss from each moment i live..... only the Magnitude is different.
Raj...
Well Raj,
If you are right and there is a magnitute for happiness then you are saying happiness can be measured? It would be interesting to learn how yoy measure you state of happiness?
Well Aparna, u dint get the point.... The point is that every body can be and is happy all the time, its just that they dont realize it. Tell me one thing, what makes u happy.... generally something u want if u get that, Rite... So basically happiness is what u want.... But but but happiness always doesnt guarantee u joy.... Someone could be happy being sad. someone could be happy to just be quite. It just the state of mind in which u want to be. But we all are so busy in finding happiness that we dont realise that its always there with us...
And rahi baat happiness measure karne ki, to u can relate it to that more u realize what happiness u are drawing from a particular moment, more happy u are.... Thats how i measure my happiness...
Stay tuned...
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