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 Mason's
Meditations
If
you're looking for something to chew over, some thoughtful seeds
for mental cultivation, bookmark this page for Jeff Mason's fortnightly
meditations. To think in or take away...
Number
3. Is Happiness Overrated?
It
seems to be a given that people want to be happy. But is it? If
that were the case, why do people hurt themselves? Why do they make
war against one another and bring unspeakable terror on each other's
heads? Why do they commit murder, suicide or find slower ways to
kill themselves? Isn't it because they all want to be happy?
This
might seem paradoxical at first. However, a little reflection reveals
that for most people happiness is matter of moments, and most always
in the past. It is sometimes hard to realize that you are living
through the good times, the happy times, until they are over. Only
after the golden age has passed is it recognized as having been
made of gold, somewhat as in the old lament that youth is wasted
on the young.
Maybe
happiness is overrated. Maybe if people forgot about happiness with
a capital "H", they would be much happier. Comparing reality to
happiness that is out of reach can lead to depression and sometimes
even suicide. Despair follows the realization that a certain conception
of happiness is unattainable in this world. At this point philosophy
ends and religion begins. The alternative is to live without longing
for the unattainable.
Mason's
Meditations will next be updated on January 1st 2001
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Previous
Meditations
2.
(1st December 2000)
1. (15th November
2000)
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