On Thu, Nov 24, 2005 at 06:53:40PM +0530, Vijay Kundaji wrote: > It seems to me that in some circumstances control over how to live > life to optimize suffering-happiness is complicated by factors beyond the > individual. Larger processes such as society, politics, history, the
No disagreement there. But it doesn't matter whether you're up to your waist in mud but how you perceive the state you're in. I personally find that attitude matters, and be it because self-empowerment gives you the subjective sense you're in control, and not a billard ball passively following the trajectory as imposed by external forces. Other seem to revel in learned helplessness. The current educational system and work environment seems to produce and require people suited for well-structured environments, which I find pretty awful. It produces resigned, innerly broken conformists. > environment ... etc, etc seem like daunting factors to tweak the knobs on > and surely also influence individual happiness. It would seem to depend on personality type and external circumstances what is the best thing to choose. Life in the critical care unit is not particuarly enjoyable, regardless of how much one tries to sugar-coat it. On the other hand, even extremely poor people are frequently cheerful. > It always seemed to me that in 'the west', there is a far greater "sense of 'The west' is not a place but a state of mind. > control" over how to live and enjoy living that certain individuals > apparently > enjoy. In India, at least, it seems like there is admittance that life, and > the > processes that affect it, is/are complex and so the way to deal with this > is through internal mechanisms and mental adjustments. In other words - If it works, why not. Haven't things changed much in some places recently, though? > the line of instruction seems to be - life is suffering - but one has to deal > with this reality through various mechanisms such as detachment, committment > to certain kinds of action, compassion, etc etc ... and the multifold paths > taught in various schools of life-practice ... It strikes me as a somewhat passive attitude, which cements the status quo, and is self-fullfilling statism. But then, I'm not an Indian, so what do I know. > I am not the religious type either - so while I'm happy seeking ways to > be individually happy (and not socially irresponsible, in the bargain) - > I am not sure that I will continue to enjoy such a sense of individual > empowerment all the time and am not sure either that most people > do. Current life style seem to be still based on phases, and expectations that you fit the pattern of behaviour depending on age. Of course, there are also genuine bodily age artifacts, which very few manage to escape. In general age stereotypes seem to be on the way out, thankfully so. If only the learning vs. production phase fallacy would fall soonish... -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org";>leitl</a> ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.leitl.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE
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