The happy life, or overall happiness, is not an ending point. The happy life is not a point at all, for if it were a point it would be redundant to reach that point. IF happiness were a point, and one eventually reached that happy point, there would no longer be a catharsis for living.
Instead, happiness is an everlasting process that is followed as a means of living. The happy life is an eternal "goal" which people have created in order to function in life. One may say that the pursuit of knowledge is also a catharsis for living, but this is incorrect. There are many people and many entities in this world that live without any substantial amount of knowledge, yet they are obviously living a happy life (If they weren't living a happy life or at least on the path to a happy life, they wouldn't continue living). No, knowledge is not a means to live or a means to achieve happiness. Knowledge is a means of building strength, this strength then aids happiness during trying times.
And in order for happiness to exist there must be trying times. Difficulties and obstacles are essential to living a happy life. If there are no obstacles in nature we create our own obstacles. This is where the argument of the "happy cow" comes in. Of course the argument can never truly be proven, however, one may say that the happy cow has no obstacles and is simply happy eating grass and enjoying the sunshine. Maybe, however, the happy cow is happy because it is searching for that ever elusive fresh patch of grass. Maybe the cow is fighting its recurrent hunger. No matter what object exists, as it wishes to lead "the happy life" it must have obstacles to overcome.
Yet, these generalities are not a proper way to approach the happy life. Yes, there are many things necessary to achieve a happy life, but their variety is so immense, depending on the person, that to build a formula for "the happy life" is a redundant task. Each person, each animal, each living thing, has its own path to "the happy life." For humans, we desire to fulfill our passions or at least satisfy them in some way. Some people even try to lose their passions in order to satisfy them, although not many of them succeed in this way. When one problem is solved, such as fulfilling one's passions, another problem arises, such as sharing your passions with someone else.
This is merely one example of how happiness is achieved, although, not EVERYONE must fulfill a passion. Some people may choose to accumulate wealth instead in order to build a comfortable lifestyle, thereby leading them to a happy life. Some may choose to do good for others in order to create a purpose to their lives, thereby reaching happiness also. There are many paths toward achieving happiness and many combinations of paths as well.
As we travel through our lives, we find obstacles in our path that we may overcome, bypass, or even stop at. The greatest obstacle that stands in the way of our "happy life" is ourselves. The more obstacles we overcome, we feel that we must create Bigger obstacles in order to feel progress. Sometimes we create such massive obstacles, and so many of them, that we are stopped in our tracks towards "happiness." One cannot simply use the outside world in order to achieve happiness. Sometimes one needs knowledge to overcome his obstacles. Sometimes one needs beliefs to overcome his obstacles. Sometimes one needs to not create so many obstacles in the first place. In the end, as "we aim like archers" at our eternal goal, we don't realize that our passage toward "the happy life" has already become The Happy Life by itself.
- Making a firm decision to change your life
- If Hue and Peter had never chosen to "move to canada" they would probably still be in San Francisco being...hippies
Instead now Peter is ruler of an entire bird kingdom
- Not being afraid of change (maybe) "You are the hero of your own adventure"
- Happiness is an on going process of life. It is not something to achieve but a means of living. Happiness is itself an eternal goal If we didn't want to be happy then what would we live for?
- (People will never be truly happy?) -Disagree
- In the end happiness is achieved through balance. Balancing ALL aspects of your life
- interesting life
- a life with changes
- a life with passions
- a life in which fear/obstacles are overcome
- a life of Constant Self Improvement
Posted at Jul 22/2007 11:32PM:
corby: nice work, bogdan. there is a lot here i think we can work with.
Posted at Jul 23/2007 12:00AM:
corby: one more thing: is there any way to tie this in more closely with the play? what is it, specifically, about the play that connects with these interesting ideas about happiness?
Posted at Jul 23/2007 09:29PM:
Matt Simonton: Hey Bogdan. Again, to second Corby, nice work. Thanks for updating the page today with what are even more thorough ideas. Here are some questions I would pose to you to press on some of the issues you've raised:
1. You say that "there are many things necessary to achieve a happy life, but their variety is so immense, depending on the person." What about the individual person changes the various things (i.e. makes them depend on the person)? Is it his or her talents, preferences, passions? I asked this during the discussion today, and I'll pose the question again: is there anything that every human being shares with every other that is necessary for achieving happiness? Both you and Antonia mentioned being "true to yourself." Could you elaborate on what this might mean?
2. Later you say that one person might find a means to happiness through wealth, another through doing good for others. But is any choice just as good as any other? Obviously, we wouldn't say that "spitting on old ladies" is just as good as "doing good for others" as a means to achieving happiness. (Or would we...?) If someone insisted that spitting on old ladies was his personal means to happiness, where would you take the conversation? All I mean to ask is, how do we know that our means to happiness is a legitimate one?
3. How can we connect your important point about obstacles/challenges with the themes of the Birds? You say in the final paragraph that we find obstacles in our lives that we can either overcome, bypass, or stop at. Which option do you think the characters of the Birds choose? What do you think of their decision?
Allow me to make a stronger point here: If everyone in a society felt that it was okay for them to back out if they were dissatisfied with their society, would society last very long? I personally don't think it would, but I could be wrong, or my assumptions might be off. But what do you think of the idea that maintaining some responsibility to one's society (or we could say community) is necessary for happiness? Or is that more a matter of doing the "right" thing than doing the "happy" thing?
I realize those are hefty questions to ask on top of your homework for tonight, but I'd really like to hear your answers to them. You have some great thoughts already but it's important to explore all the options and side-thoughts thoroughly.
Posted at Jul 23/2007 11:05PM:
Matt Simonton: Wow, that turned out to be a lot longer than it looked when I was writing it. Maybe just focus on the actual question sentences. See you tomorrow!
