Can’t we just be happy ? I mean happy for no reason at all, with no strings attached, no condtions to be met, just pure happiness for nothing at all ? It seems that we always create some problem, we always need something more or something different from what we have or are to be happy. We are always unsatisfied. I think happiness is a function of nothing at all. You can just be completely happy and satisfied for no reason at all. That is the best you can ever have.
It is like we are in a given state A but must always reach some different state B to be happy and satisfied. It really doesn’t matter what A and B are just as long as they are different. The difference between the states acts like a voltage or pressure to interact with and manipulate reality to go from state A to state B. But at a deeper level all states are really equivalent, we just assign the differences arbitrarily and create our own problems. We must just accept ourselves and be happy for nothing at all, no strings attached, no conditions. Then you get bored and then you start to recreate another different state, and the cycle repeats. But the wise person breaks the cycle and says, it has been done, I am finished.
Why can’t we just be dead ? Why live on a rollercoaster of emotions, of state changes of happiness and sadness when we could just be in a stable state of death ? What your are suggesting is exactly this; stars, atoms and rocks are happy and free. But they are also dead, at least that is what we think (who knows they may all be alive and with consciousness).
What happened to drive, desire and ambition ? If a person was stabily happy he would be also completely free, but would be dead. If your are alive you are always in an unstable state, not free, but that is why you are alive.
Happiness is an illusion. It’s a concept monopolised by politicians, marketers, and social commentators to give the unthinking herd meaning to their existence. “What is the meaning of existence”, the herd want to know, “to be happy”, answers the so-called expert on life. And so the mob spend all their lives trying to gratify their shallow desires through shopping, sex, and other useless attempts.
It is the state of unrest that keeps us growing, pushing, improving. When we are satisfied (ie happy) we become bored. It is like the rich kid who has nothing to do but hang around. Is he happy? No. He needs drugs and toys of some kind to stimulate himself. Bursts of happiness are more fulfilling because you feel the angst when you are without it (a good thing) - and you want more out of life. It makes you breath to find out all there is to offer out here… but happy all the time isn’t ultimately fulfilling even tho’ it would seem so.
Can’t we just be happy? I mean happy for no reason at all, with no strings attached, no condtions to be met, just pure happiness for nothing at all ?
Answer…Yes (qualified) as it is tough to do long term with most of life as we know it today.
There are 3 components for a happy life: Contentment, love or compassion and gratitude. When we realize that happiness and contentment are there for the taking and that they are independent from our circumstances it sometimes can sink in that there is nothing stopping us from being content and happy Right Now!
Thoreau wrote: “I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contended one can be with nothing definite - only a sense of existence.” When we wake up in the morning each day with a sense of gratitude, such as Thoreau wrote about, for just having the privilege to live life in that moment we will not be so dependent on looking for inner fulfillment in outer possessions. So, yes, we may be happy with no preconditions if we choose to be.
Happiness is an illusive state of being in life because; “it is usually dependent upon our outer circumstances of our life being in accord with the fulfillment of our desires” as written by a famous Buddhist practitioner who failed to heed his own writings and was found dead from drugs. It all boils down to a famous 12 step saying; If you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk to benefit from it.
Buddhists say that most things we perceive as happiness comes under the real category of pain diminishes and is not true happiness at all since these areas such as food, spending, sex, etc., be can readily turned into pain if we go too far with them or when the inevitable change comes about with impermanence. They say that the spiritual way is the only never ending way to enjoy unlimited happiness.
I’ll leave you with a timely quote from Brother David Steindl-Rast a Christian - Buddhist practitioner from his book “Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer”
“Ordinary happiness depends on happenstance. Joy is that extraordinary happiness that is independent of what happens to us. Good luck can make us happy, but it cannot give us lasting joy. The root of joy is gratefulness. We tend to misunderstand the link between joy and gratefulness. We notice that joyful people are grateful and suppose that they are grateful for their joy. But the reverse is true: their joy springs from gratefulness. If one has all the good luck in the world, but takes it for granted, it will not give one joy. Yet even bad luck will give joy to those who manage to be grateful for it. We hold the key to lasting happiness in our own hands. For it is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”
V (Male)
For free access to my earlier posts on voluntary simplicity, compulsive spending, debting, compulsive overeating and clutter write: vfr44@aol.com. Any opinion expressed here is that of my own and is not the opinion, recommendation or belief of any group or organization.
I’d say absolutely for sure yes. I find happiness can be triggered by some thing or things but once set in motion it can be very self sustaining.
When I’m in good form I try not to analysis it in any way! Maybe thats what happiness is - not analysising!
Yes yes happy but brain dead.
The only problem is sadness, for me, also has all these characteristics!
