As audacious as it may seem to contradict venerable figures such as John Stuart Mill, Flaubert, or Sartre, I disagree with some of their views about the nature of happiness.
Flaubert: “To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness; though if stupidity is lacking, the others are useless.”
I argue that this is Happiness Myth No. 1: Happy people are annoying and stupid.
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Depends: I think happy people are seen as incredibely boring and stupid by narcissists: they cannot be manipulated easily (boring), they are driven by love and connection (stupid), and they are not really interested in money, fame or power (stupid).
Since our narcissitic friends cannot fathom what love and connection is, are only interted in glory, power and money, and see people as means to their end, this happy stuff is utterly useless.
Otherwise, for normal people, I would agree that we find happy folks easy going, interesting and fun.
Does it say something about Flaubert ?
@Lauren
I agree a lot with what you posted as I am a happy person who values family and friends; don’t care for money so much as long as we have enough to be comfortable and not dependent on others
. However, I can be easily manipulated as I am very gullible and naive because I believe everyone is just as nice as me.
these are all corollaries:
Vauvenargues: “There are men who are happy without knowing it.”
Alexander Smith: “We are never happy; we can only remember that we were so once.”
John Stuart Mill: “Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so.”
happiness is an illusion – the “normal” state is one where you just “are” and you do not try and label it as happy or unhappy or anything else – time passes, you live – life is filled with the everyday things you do and you do not step back and question your state of mind as if you were a ghost in the machine judging yourself – because as soon as you start to do that you are “unhappy” and by being in that state the previous state becomes by comparison “happy”
There is no “happiness” – there is only “unhappiness” – even though, when a child is exuberant and you ask him or her “are you happy?” you will get a resounding “yes”
if you do not get this you are by nature a morose person with problems – solution? Fill your life with effort and servitude to others – you wont be any happier but at least you will do some good
this one:
Willa Cather: “One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them…”
is just balderdash and meaningless – it sounds good but little else. If it was rephrased to remove the idea that happiness is knowingly discovered then it would be valid
happiness is not something you can chase – you can not find the bull riding on its back grasshopper
if you do not understand what i have written to be self evident truth then you are aberrant – sick – broken
but then, all of us can be that way at times
pop
I should have used the phrase “service to others” rather than “servitude…”
p
Good thoughts P!