Posted by Jost on November 27, 2006, at 19:01:18
In reply to Re: It's Treatable. No, it's not., posted by linkadge on November 27, 2006, at 18:47:43
I'm not sure what people in this discussion mean by "happiness."
If by happiness you mean a monolithic, uninterrupted upbeat sense that life is a bowl of cherries-- or interlude in Eden-- or devoid of pain, disappointment, loss etc-- no, I'd say no one is happy.
I don't think of myself as a happy person-- and probably would say I'm somewhere between a very and pretty unhappy person-- and have been very depressed most of my life-- but I;ve experienced moments of happiness,excitement, warmth, closeness, signifcance, accomplishment-- which I also don't want to deny or annul.
I wish I'd experienced more of them-- and less of the dark emotions-- but my thought is that belief in happiness or the possiblity of meaning (even transient, partial happiness or meaning) is something like Pascal's wager-- if it does exist, I don't want to adhere to beliefs that would make it less likely (or even impossible) for me to experience as much of it as I can-- that would in effect destroy even my present hope for the future-- as well as the likelihood that that future can evolve out of this present.
Not that your current disbelief does negate it-- but it does darken the prospect of the future-- and also perhaps hinder you from working effectively toward whatever part of happiness you really could enjoy. Which is itself a sad thing-- and maybe doesn't have to be that way-- at least, sometime.
Jost
poster:Jost
thread:706067
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061123/msgs/707998.html