I particularly like this chapter. Daniel Haybron's opens up with an excerpt from Ron Haybron's, "Island;" the way he describes the sun going down on the pond and the birds upon the water; and the water in the sand, helps to place you in his shoes and feel like you're there. And when he talks about the veil between us and the truth of existence being very thin, I guess his referring to us as humankind, they're not being much difference between us and I assume the truth of existence being that feeling of being so small in the grand scheme of things. I can relate and being in a similar scene in nature, where your mind as he describes the is free of other interruptions. Although he describes it as a mindless existence and normally we think of mindfulness in terms of meditation; the author also describe this as being "meditative, with no need of mantras or quiet rooms." I can relate to having this feeling not only on the open water, but also in some other settings, also.
I also really liked this chapter because Hebron goes on to describe a happy man that he calls Big Joe and he too uses descriptive writing to make you feel like you're in the setting- with Big Joe catching dolphin in the ocean, reeling in fish; and even admiring them for their beauty although on the hunts to capture them, to eat. And even makes you feel the danger associated with his mission. He describes Joe and his wife's life of needing little resources to live on, building his own home, and doing all of his own maintenance, only a carpentry job in addition to the fishing that he does, keeping the bills paid. Sounds like a very confident man, get mild tempered; and independent- enjoying very much so being his own boss. Haybron used the example of Joe, to show how as society, we judge someone's happiness (sometimes,) by observing the person to assess their emotional condition. However Hebron goes on to say that emotional condition is much deeper than just a person's body language etc.
In this chapter he focuses on the emotional state theory of happiness. And says that considering this date to be happy is to have a favorable emotional condition. However he basically says you can't just go off of outward appearances of happiness such as smiling etc because there's more to it than just being happy you have to actually feel happy. He says most people list days such as the birth of their child etc as the happiest days of their lives; however, basically says that you can't just factor that one day into being happy; and describes sustained periods of happiness more in relation to a person actually being happy and then just having one extremely happy day because of extremely happy event.
Then he goes on to describe the three aspects that are important and happiness, in relation to the emotional state theory. The first is endorsement which is feeling happy and other classic emotions, the second is engagement through vitality and flow which is basically finding interest in your own life/ not being depressed, or uninterested in the things in it. And the third being attunements which is a piece of mind, confidence, expensiveness... And for this he gives the example of tranquility. He describes this state of attunement as when a person relaxes blossoms and living seems to be natural without inhibition." And further describes it as when you feel safe secure and unthreatened. Attainment has three basic aspects that he lists as inner calmness (or tranquility,) confidence, and expansiveness of mood or spirit (or being carefree or uncompressed.) He goes on to say that confidence he means here as a somatic confidence (of feeling wholy at home in your body,) rather than the egotistical assumption of the word confidence. And describes stress sort of as something that can smolder ones ability for their happiness to burn brightly, if you will.
Then the author introduces us to another fictional character by the name of Robert who outwardly appears to be very happy but whom he says breaks down in tears before falling asleep each night. Hedonicly speaking Robert would be considered as happy however psychologically speaking he is obviously depressed to be crying every night, and therefore can't be technically happy. Haybron says that there are non-conscious aspects of our emotional conditions as well. And those non-conscious aspects he says our defense within our happiness. He describes the person's mood propensity as they're likelihood to experience certain moods and emotions over others and temperament he says is more fixated around somebody's mood propensity which he says changes with circumstances.
Here Haybron sums up the chapter by saying that looking at happiness as emotional well-being would have two parts which consist of your emotions and your moods in addition to your mood propensity and so he says that to be happy and for once emotional condition to be favorable as a whole not only do their emotions and mood matter but also their propensity to them, which he contributes to circumstances. As opposed to hedonism, which just looks at the experiences that you're given rather than your emotions to them. He then quotes a colleague and Buddhist thinker who describes a similar view as his when he says "by happiness I mean here a deep sense of flourishing that arises from an exceptionally healthy mind." And then he leads into the next chapter in which he will cover the third theory the life satisfaction theory.
Thanks for your posts, Ashley. Soon as your classmates post here we'll see if we can get a thread of conversation going.
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