Happiness .. discuss

English!

BTW all the British nations have national anthems except England, although "Swing low sweet chariot" is becoming widely adopted. In order to redress the balance, Flanders and Swann once wrote a national anthem for England, entitled "The English are best". Anyone who knows the words is really showing their age, which is older than me.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Wow - excellent thread Jimi!

What about Maslow's Pyramid? And - then there's Emerson (much more home-spun), not to mention Shaun de Warren . . . All good stuff - wow!

Something which makes me think is our current society's belief in happiness as a "right" or at least, an ordinary expectation. It's most frustrating talking to, in particular youger people, when this subject comes up. Happiness is not a given nor is it attainable through effort; it is a state of mind, often divorced from our current circumstance or experience.

Essaitchonetee - I knew I shouldn't've had the third glass !

Now, why should've it been the third . . .

/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif



<hr width=100% size=1>Khyber
 
Don't get me started on "crap life syndrome" You're quite right in that people expect happiness as a right, but also expect other people to give it to them ( like me). It's not particularly a question of wealth or assets, but usually far more basic things that make people happy, like a supportive partner, enjoying work etc. I'm not that old, but get fed up with a particular type in the younger side of the population expecting me to solve their crap life.

<hr width=100% size=1>Life's too short- do it now./forums/images/icons/wink.gif
 
I'd like to have you round for a meal. How do you like yor kidneys done?

fss fss fss fss

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://practical-business.co.uk>Click for website!</A>
 
Re: He He! Sailing as a road to Happiness

Oh you poor lttle jockish dreamer. Sailing has to much stuff in it, as does life in general, to be the road to happiness. Add to this the external influences of people, weather, domestic chores, radio checks and a world shortage of Branston Pickle and there's no hope there.

I'm happier since I've realized that there is no hope. I think it was John Cleese in the film Clockwise that says " It's not the dispaire I can't take, it's the hope".

So abandon all hope, give up on ambition and just bumble about making the best use of what you've got. If that doesn't make you happy, steal somebody elses stuff, take drugs or find someone more unfortunate than yourself.

In any given situation remember two things.

1. If you can't see the numpty. You are it.
2. It's much much later than you think.


<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Apart from that, Alex, I take it that you quite like the younger generation!

I'm just about young enough to remember the "It's just not fair!" type of rant that I used to subject my parents to. Funnily enough, I can't recall my kids ever do that to me, must have been their perfect upbringing!

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Actually that brings us onto Bentham's theory of utilitarianism.

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) developed the moral theory called Utilitarianism. It aimed to give a method of moral judgement based on experience rather than dogma.
Bentham thought that an action was good if it increased pleasure, bad if it increased pain. An action or law would be good if it produced "The greatest happiness for the greatest number". He developed a "happiness calculus" in order to calculate for any action or law what the consequences in terms of pleasure or pain would be.

Therefore under his calculus cannabalism could be morally justifiable provided a sufficient number of people ENJOYED the feast!


<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Forgive me, Alex, if I beg to differ on a point you raise.

External things cannot "make us happy" in their own right. A supportive partner does not "make" me happy, though I may "be" happy with a supportive partner.
Similarly, some of the happiest people I've met seem to have cr*p jobs and some with the job of one's dreams seem to be as miserable as sin.

Is it the boat which makes one happy or the ability to go sailing . . .

Bu**er - that's fourth glass gone now !

/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif !!!!




<hr width=100% size=1>Khyber
 
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://rangerecords.com/KEN_DODD_TEARS_AND_HAPPINESS.jpg>Clive you seem to be taking after this guy. Epicurus was born in 341 BC, he taught that "Pleasure is the beginning and goal of a happy life." Friends claimed that this led him to such over indulgences that he vomited twice a day. But friendship, freedom and plain food and water were what Epicurus considered life's truest pleasures.</A>

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
How does that work for a Sado-Masochist then?

Surely, you'd disappear up your own fundamental calculus.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://practical-business.co.uk>Click for website!</A>
 
Re: Lyrics

Crikey, I had no idea it was still available, though I should have guessed. My Dad still has "At the drop of another hat" on vinyl, and as a kid I learned the words to the french horn concerto. Sad to say I can still recite them.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Oh for Heaven's sake, Jimi, don't please get us into Bentham - just don't go there - and as for Ken Dodd, I only wish I had his hair.

Funnily enough, I've met K.D. on a couple occaisions (friend of [elderly] sailing friend) and a surpisingly - or should that be disappointingly (?) - ordinary and depressed sort of person.

Funny old life, really . . .
/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif



<hr width=100% size=1>Khyber
 
Apparently Bentham died because he got cold stuffing a chicken .. do'nt know if the chicken was entirely happy either..

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top