“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” - Herman Cain
I truly believe in this quote, because human we want to be successful but some think about the fame and money of successful but not the motivation and ambition of happiness and successful. Being yourself and loving what you do is the key of happiness.
Haybron ch3-4, Life Satisfaction & Measuring Happiness
Again, some of these questions will likely turn up (in one form or another) on our first exam at the end of September. (Thanks to Patricia for the quizlet.) Reply to any of the discussion questions you like, in the comments space. OR, come up with your own comments and/or questions. Try to post at least three separate comments/questions/links prior to each class, in the comments space below.
LISTEN. Today in Happiness we consider "life satisfaction" and Daniel Haybron's assertion that To be satisfied does not mean you think your life is going well for you...
If you've spent the bulk of your life imprisoned, and declare upon eventual release that you were and are happy, does that bode ill for happiness as a worthy object for a life's quest? Or does it just speak well of the temperament of the ex-con who persevered so heroically?
Plato's cave-dwellers in Book VII of the Republic must have thought themselves happily ensconced in their subterranean prison, else they'd not so have resented their enlightened peer's attempt to shine a light on their situation. Happiness surely does not supersede delusion... (continues)
Two more very short chapters from Daniel Haybron today, on Life Satisfaction and Measuring Happiness. The former sounds slippery, the latter potentially too precise. But it might in fact be easier to measure slippery satisfaction, suitably specified, than elusive happiness. The title of Haybron's bigger book suggests that, to me: The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being.
Most of us would probably say our lives were going badly if we found ourselves in Moreese "Pop" Bickham's situation (as recounted on Story Corps) - thirty-seven years (fourteen on death row) in Louisiana's Angola Prison, for returning fire against the Klan Cops who tried to kill him. He said, on release, "I don't have one minute's regret. It was a glorious experience." He was "glad and happy and praising the Lord." I'm pretty sure I'd have responded differently. Good for him?
“None of us can truly know what we mean to other people, and none of us can know what our future self will experience. History and philosophy ask us to remember these mysteries, to look around at friends, family, humanity, at the surprises life brings — the endless possibilities that living offers — and to persevere. There is love and insight to live for, bright moments to cherish, and even the possibility of happiness, and the chance of helping someone else through his or her own troubles. Know that people, through history and today, understand how much courage it takes to stay. Bear witness to the night side of being human and the bravery it entails, and wait for the sun. If we meditate on the record of human wisdom we may find there reason enough to persist and find our way back to happiness. The first step is to consider the arguments and evidence and choose to stay. After that, anything may happen. First, choose to stay.”My go-to guide for many of our questions is Bertrand Russell's Conquest of Happiness, still holding its value as a reminder that we can't just wait for the world to shower us with joy, we must take steps. But a relatively few steps yields great rewards.
“The secret of happiness is very simply this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.”
“What I do maintain is that success can only be one ingredient in happiness, and is too dearly purchased if all the other ingredients have been sacrificed to obtain it.”
“I do not myself think there is any superior rationality in being unhappy. The wise man will be as happy as circumstances permit, and if he finds contemplation of the universe painful beyond a point, he will contemplate something else instead.”Russell was no Stoic, he was more nearly Epicurean in the falsely-ascribed hedonistic sense... but here's a strong stoic insight:
“Very many people spend money in ways quite different from those that their natural tastes would enjoin, merely because the respect of their neighbors depends upon their possession of a good car and their ability to give good dinners. As a matter of fact, any man who can obviously afford a car but genuinely prefers travel or a good library will in the end be much more respected than if he behaved exactly like everyone else.”
"One who acquires easily things for which he feels only a very moderate desire concludes that the attainment of desire does not bring happiness. If he is of a philosophic disposition, he concludes that human life is essentially wretched, since the man who has all he wants is still unhappy. He forgets that to be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.”
“To be happy in this world, especially when youth is past, it is necessary to feel oneself not merely an isolated individual whose day will soon be over, but part of the stream of life flowing on from the first germ to the remote and unknown future.”
“When some misfortune threatens, consider seriously and deliberately what is the very worst that could possibly happen. Having looked this possible misfortune in the face, give yourself sound reasons for thinking that after all it would be no such very terrible disaster. Such reasons always exist, since at the worst nothing that happens to oneself has any cosmic importance."
“We have reached a stage in evolution which is not the final stage. We must pass through it quickly, for if we do not, most of us will perish by the wa y, and the others will be lost in a forest of doubt and fear... civilised man must enlarge his heart as he has enlarged his mind. He must learn to transcend self, and in so doing to acquire the freedom of the Universe.”
"Philosophy" is a word which has been used in many ways, some wider, some narrower. I propose to use it in a very wide sense, which I will now try to explain. Philosophy, as I shall understand the word, is something inter- mediate between theology and science. Like theology, it consists of speculations on matters as to which definite knowledge has, so far, been unascertainable ; but like science, it appeals to human reason rather than to authority, whether that of tradition or that of revelation. All definite knowledge so I should contend belongs to science ; all dogma as to what surpasses definite know- ledge belongs to theology. But between theology and science there is a No Man's Land, exposed to attack from both sides; this No Man's Land is philosophy. Almost all the questions of most interest to speculative minds are such as science cannot answer, and the confident answers of theologians no longer seem so con- vincing as they did in former centuries. Is the world divided into mind and matter, and, if so, what is mind and what is matter? Is mind subject to matter, or is it possessed of independent powers ? Has the universe any unity or purpose? Is it evolving towards some goal ? Are there really laws of nature, or do we believe in them only because of our innate love of order ? Is man what he seems to the astronomer, a tiny lump of impure carbon and water impotently crawling on a small and unimportant planet ? Or is he what he appears to Hamlet ? Is he perhaps both at once ? Is there a way of living that is noble and another that is base, or are all ways of living merely futile? If there is a way of living that is noble, in what does it consist, and how shall we achieve it? Must the good be eternal in order to deserve to be valuc'd, or is it worth seeking even if the universe is inexorably moving toward? death?
"For any happiness, even in this world, quite a lot of restraint is going to be necessary." -CS Lewis
What is the relationship between temperance and happiness? When does civilizing unruly and destructive nature become being a total buzzkill? WHERE IS THAT LINE?! Is it a lame line? Is the line the foundation of any Good to see from life? Can sacrifice go wrong?
The definition of 'temperance' is super contextually relative, so feel free to use whichever context you want to make your point.
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Update: Reposting Weekly, so it doesn't get lost.
Hello everyone,
Please refer to this link at your leisure: https://quizlet.com/_a3w2i8?x=1qqt&i=1lm7h8
I have created this Quizlet to host all the questions posed and their corresponding answers.
Consider this as an aid for the upcoming tests.
I have also taken the liberty to provide the page numbers where I found the answers, so you can validate them. Afterall, it is possible I might miss one or answer incorrectly, and I welcome you to correct me so we can all benefit from this Quizlet.
Also, if you pose additional questions in the comments, let me know and I will add them to the list.
See you all on Tuesday.
Patricia Hummel.
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people,’ the infinitely more sensible essayist Anne Lamott observes in her book on writing, Bird by Bird. ‘It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life … perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.”
And
"...we have the positive-thinking movement to blame for the unhelpful idea that the goal of life – Aristotle’s ‘whole aim and end of human existence’ – should be a state of unalloyed ecstasy. As the best scientific investigations into happiness make clear, there are two major problems with this. The first is that it simply isn’t how we experience our most satisfying moments: when wrapped up in genuinely engaging work, or conversation, or interactions with our friends and families, it’s more accurate to say that we’re so absorbed that we’re unaware of any kind of mood, overjoyed or otherwise. The second is that to experience a real sense of aliveness and fulfilment, the happiness researchers will tell you, you need to be exposed to a full symphony of emotions and not just the one-note melody of cheeriness. Too often, positive thinking is about closing off the possibility of negative emotions. But real happiness may also require a capacity for awe, curiosity and being comfortable with uncertainty – all characteristics that involve not closing off, but remaining open to the negative."
A similar spirit informs his latest, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals--
“Nobody in the history of humanity has ever achieved “work-life balance,” whatever that might be, and you certainly won’t get there by copying the “six things successful people do before 7:00 a.m.” The day will never arrive when you finally have everything under control—when the flood of emails has been contained; when your to-do lists have stopped getting longer; when you’re meeting all your obligations at work and in your home life; when nobody’s angry with you for missing a deadline or dropping the ball; and when the fully optimized person you’ve become can turn, at long last, to the things life is really supposed to be about.”
LISTEN. So said the Amazonian Piraha people, according to Daniel Everett, before it became a popular marketing slogan.
What does a good life look like to you? For some, the phrase may conjure up images of a close-knit family, a steady job, and a Victorian house at the end of a street arched with oak trees. Others may focus on the goal of making a difference in the world, whether by working as a nurse or teacher, volunteering, or pouring their energy into environmental activism.
According to Aristotlean theory, the first kind of life would be classified as “hedonic”—one based on pleasure, comfort, stability, and strong social relationships. The second is “eudaimonic,” primarily concerned with the sense of purpose and fulfillment one gets by contributing to the greater good. The ancient Greek philosopher outlined these ideas in his treatise Nicomachean Ethics, and the psychological sciences have pretty much stuck them ever since when discussing the possibilities of what people might want out of their time on Earth.
