06-14-2009
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Mass. and RI
Posts: 905
Rep Power: 3
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Well, I guess the Christians and Buddhists must have it wrong, then!
Eat, drink and be merry my friends.........
In the Christian view:
"The humble, selfless, teachable person who allows him/herself to be disciplined by God’s word is the really happy one - not the one who lives for ‘number one’ - for self!"
In the Buddhist view:
"Buddha isn't afraid of any aspect of human suffering. And, having experienced a happiness totally unconditional, he's not afraid to point out the suffering and stress inherent in places where most of us would rather not see it — in the conditioned pleasures we cling to"
Nothing wrong with being happy.......life, nature and consciousness are magical and and worthy of our constant amazement. And so is good pizza and beer.
My point is that comparing one's happiness with others is a tough nut to crack. You might be happy or you might look happy and be the most miserable person in the room. Heck if I know.
People who are not adherents look at the Buddhist or Christian stuff about suffering and conclude "how negative!". But it's not that way. I think that people who have thought deeply about such things are actually happier, because they understand the situation.
Look at it like this. If you are sailing and you don't know about the rocks, the nets, the sunburn, the dehydration...etc.....you might be happy for a while, but disaster is right around the corner. If, however, you go out knowing about all the inevitable, you will likely have a better time (in the long run) because you know the course and the dangers.
And that, IMHO, is life. It's not "damn the torpedoes, happiness is dead ahead (after just two more beers, 5 more bikini clad women and two large pizzas).
Then again, I've always been a bit jealous of people who COULD look at life that way.
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"I do not conceive we can exist long as a nation without having lodged somewhere a power which will pervade the whole Union in as energetic a manner as the authority of the state governments extends over the individual states"
-George Washington
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