PHIL 3160 – Philosophy of Happiness
What is it, how can we best pursue it, why should we? Supporting the study of these and related questions at Middle Tennessee State University and beyond. "Examining the concept of human happiness and its application in everyday living as discussed since antiquity by philosophers, psychologists, writers, spiritual leaders, and contributors to pop culture."
"The secret to happiness is to face that the world is horrible"
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting concept to me. To become happy, we must accept that the world is terrible. Doesn't that seem a tad oxymoronic? I suppose this depends on how we define "accept". Does accepting simply mean to recognize that the world is horrible and to live outside of that fact? Could acceptance be agreeing that the world is horrible and attempting to do something about it? I'm not sure I totally agree with Russell's statement here. I see what he's going for, don't get me wrong, it just sounds horribly pessimistic. What if I don't want to accept that the world is horrible? What if I don't believe that the world is horrible? Will I never attain Russell's "secret to happiness" in these cases? I propose that the secret to happiness is to accept that the world is beautiful. This might be over correcting a bit. I can see where someone could say "well that's just way too optimistic!". As pretentious as this might sound, perhaps that's just how I want to live and see the world. I don't know if I could live happily if I just "accepted that the world is horrible". I'm not saying that I am a pro at seeing the beauty in the world, but sometimes I feel that seeing the terribleness of it all is a bit too easy. Anyone can call out what's wrong with something. I feel that sometimes it takes courage to admire something. The world is certainly fucked, don't get me wrong here. But that doesn't mean we can't admire all of the wonderful things.