Comments on: The Happiness Issue

By: by Tim

by Tim — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:21:52 +0000

I like the way the Tao Te Ching puts it: “Which is better: to be esteemed by others, or to have self-esteem?”

By: Dr. Sam

Dr. Sam — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 01:58:21 +0000

Further to my earlier post, I provide here my further reflection on this important issue (see a fuller exposition on my website). Many of those who seem happy to the world because of their perceived outward circumstances or the front they put forward to the world may in fact be among the most miserable people on earth without anybody else knowing it. Therefore, happiness does not depend upon one’s estate, class or status in life. It is not dependent upon whether you live in the main street or the mean street. It is not a matter of how rich or how poor one is. Birth does not guarantee happiness. Nationality or gender has little if anything to do with it. If any person should believe that any of these conditions or situations or involvements assures happiness, then he should ask the next pertinent question: why does the living person of every age, class, nationality, race or color endlessly feel dissatisfied and unhappy? Happiness is not found in the glamour of high society nor in the speedways of a pop culture that promises an easy and spectacular lifestyle, including happiness, in a quick and trendy manner.
Obviously, the quest for happiness is not that simple! That is why the problem of unhappiness endures! Therefore, the search continues. But the answer does not lie outside of the individual. It lies within! Happiness above all else is an inward, not an outward, experience. This view is supported by many studies in psychology, especially in the immensely popular studies on the psychology of personal achievement. It is a fundamental spiritual lesson thought by many religions, sages and masters, especially those of the East.
Those individuals who draw their strength and sense of being from within themselves rather than from outward events and circumstances have indeed the strength of a Titan. In reality, no individual search for meaning has ever been satisfactorily accomplished without drawing from the inside! When a person draws from the resources within himself, he is surrendering to a power greater than himself. That power becomes his self-affirming power.
© Dr. Sam
http://www.onehumanityvision.com

By: Dr. Sam

Dr. Sam — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 01:41:54 +0000

TO LOVE OR TO HATE—the CRITICAL choice in Life
We all have choice in this world, a sage writes, to create or to destroy, to love or to hate. Which choice do you think the present day right wing Republicans, the extremists among the tea baggers, the militia, the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs of this world have made? It is not difficult to answer this question. All of us have another choice to make: to follow those who destroy and hate, or to follow those who create and love. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist’s mind to recognize who are the enemies of humanity and who are the true friends of humanity. Those whose narrow vision leads them to hate and destroy live mostly for themselves and never want to give to others. Those whose broad vision leads them to selflessly give and do things for others are engaged in works of eternity—and what they do will live forever. Henry Drummond put it somewhat differently: “There is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving.” In giving, we render service to the broader humanity. Louis M. Savary considers service “an ultimate concern.” He states: “an ultimate concern can never be self-centered; it is always focused on the on the human family. That is where the world should be going?needs of others and young people want us to do this. That is the path of progress.
© Dr. Sam
http://www.onehumanityvision.com

By: by Tim

by Tim — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:33:43 +0000

Spot on, John.

This made me think: If I had to discard all possessions, and could keep only one, what would it be?

Easy: My guitar. Of those happy hours that require a thing, mine are spent playing music.

Television would be the first to go

By: John Bardos - JetSetCitizen

John Bardos - JetSetCitizen — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:43:48 +0000

There is another often overlooked component to the costs of consumption and materialism and that is time.

Buying things, cleaning things, maintaining things, protecting things, worrying about things, and stressing about things we don’t have all take a lot of time.

Consumption only creates fleeting moments of happiness at the cost of sapping our available mental capacity. Most of our free time is spent thinking of things or not thinking at all in front of a TV.