Eric wrote:
>So, to summarize your post (and the book):
I'll add my view to your summary. It uses slightly
different words, but may be the same ideas. These
words become tricky when we try to talk about subjects
involving feelings and unknowns.
>We do not know what happiness is.
Knowledge about happiness is growing
but still incomplete.
>We look in the wrong places.
A majority of us make assumptions about
happiness which do not match the world
very well. It is possible that one does
not look for "happiness" and the act of
looking gets in the way of our contentment.
>There never was a time when people were happy.
Happiness is a relative term and satisfaction
with life has gone through cycles. At no time
did any culture capture happiness or remove
suffering.
>There never will be a time when people are happy.
The future does not appear to hold any sudden
breakthroughs in understanding happiness, and it
doesn't matter. The present is where feelings
exist (happiness is a feeling?) so we should not
focus on the future.
>There never was a time when people understood happiness.
Our understanding of happiness has gone through cycles
and has never been complete.
>There never will be a time when people will understand happiness.
Our future understanding of happiness does not look
very likely. It is a vague term and possibly we
need a new concept or definition to work with.
>We shouldn't expect our lives to be very happy.
Yes, we can open doors for happiness/contentment
to enter, but "expecting" it to enter does not
help.
>We can learn to be content.
Yes, we have a better handle on the concept of
contentment.
>We will be content if we learn to accept less.
Expecting and accepting less from others and from
the earth is part of the path to contentment, but
not the whole path.
>There are a lot of wonderful things that we can choose to enjoy.
Yes, most of us ignore and take for granted the gifts of
life. Also, much of life requires education or action
to extract enjoyment from.
>They are things our culture doesn't emphasize or value much.
Yes
>I don't buy the "humans are/life is inherently flawed, so we just have to
>accept things the way they are, and have always been, and will always be"
>point of view. I don't think we have to look "outside" or "within"
>ourselves for the answers. The answers are staring us in the face, two
>inches from our proverbial nose. We need to learn to fan the smoke away
>and remove the mirrors that prevent us from seeing what's right in front of
>us.
Yes, we should not be passive and helpless when it comes to living.
I would add a small ZEN twist in here. Looking for answers that do
not exist may be a problem. Life may always have smoke and
mirrors, and it is the choosing of which questions to ask
that is a key. One of my suspicions is that defining happiness
or looking for perfect answers may be a dead end.
Also, i'm not sure the answers are that easy to see. At least
they have not been for me.
>Just food for thought : )
munch <grin>. Sharing is the goal.. not agreeing.
We can not be sure how a bite tastes to someone else,
but we can munch together.
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Jeff Owens ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Zone 7, http://www.teleport.com/~kowens
Underground house, solar energy, reduced consumption, no TV
