Would you give up yourself to be happy?

[Seditious]

I actually came up with this question spur of the moment and thought maybe it was worth asking here too.

If you were brainwashed by scientologists (or whoever) and became really happy as a consequence, would you, being shown video footage proving you were brainwashed ask to be changed back to normal---get your old personality back, or do you think you'd choose to live the way they changed you, and not care at all about who you used to be?

drug addicts seem to be trapped by their desire for what they used to obtain, people stay in bad relationships for sake of ease and comfort, we fall into sloth and habit and make of our lives little compared to what we would wish. ...how much are we to be concerned about losing the past of our everchanging identity in the pursuit of happiness? should 'who we are' (as if a static thing) be kept to the sacrifice of the things we often so highly demand? Is it anything at all to be happy if we are but a mindless pig without soulful mind and experience or some believed purpose more important to living than the agreeable consequences? is it anything to be mindful and often miserable when your wisdom and such virtues lend themselves to your aims which are to elate you from that misery? what is it to be regarded the sacrifice of firewood for in return the everlasting fire when the sole use of the wood was for a fragile fire you desired to have and have last? Is it to burn the soul to keep the shell of the body warm and thus lose anything worth warming, or is it merely an ego destroyed in fueling the fire giving warmth to a core being that can only ever be made anew but never itself lost?


fairly broad idea I think, for anyone who wants to let their mind wander and share their ideas, beyond the initial question

 

[Vital Remains]

I would never do that man! That would spook the hell out of me when i watched the videos.

 

[judas69]

Where do I sign?

 

[jojoNZ]

Many people would do anything to be happy, like what you said about drug addicts and etc.

I would never be able to be happy all the time. Being happy all the time is just lying to yourself, and plus, it's a sick idea to just trade in basically.. 'you', just to be happy.

 

[speed]

I actually came up with this question spur of the moment and thought maybe it was worth asking here too.

If you were brainwashed by scientologists (or whoever) and became really happy as a consequence, would you, being shown video footage proving you were brainwashed ask to be changed back to normal---get your old personality back, or do you think you'd choose to live the way they changed you, and not care at all about who you used to be?

drug addicts seem to be trapped by their desire for what they used to obtain, people stay in bad relationships for sake of ease and comfort, we fall into sloth and habit and make of our lives little compared to what we would wish. ...how much are we to be concerned about losing the past of our everchanging identity in the pursuit of happiness? should 'who we are' (as if a static thing) be kept to the sacrifice of the things we often so highly demand? Is it anything at all to be happy if we are but a mindless pig without soulful mind and experience or some believed purpose more important to living than the agreeable consequences? is it anything to be mindful and often miserable when your wisdom and such virtues lend themselves to your aims which are to elate you from that misery? what is it to be regarded the sacrifice of firewood for in return the everlasting fire when the sole use of the wood was for a fragile fire you desired to have and have last? Is it to burn the soul to keep the shell of the body warm and thus lose anything worth warming, or is it merely an ego destroyed in fueling the fire giving warmth to a core being that can only ever be made anew but never itself lost?


fairly broad idea I think, for anyone who wants to let their mind wander and share their ideas, beyond the initial question

Well there's buddhism, Taoism, stoicism, epicureanism, economics and materialism to guide you on this path towards bliss. And lets not forget the orgiastic oblivion of dionysiac cults, sex, drugs, alcohol, and money.

 

[judas69]

Coma - Guns and Roses .. 4 minutes into the song.

Would you leave?

 

[Έρεβος]

Whats so good about being "happy" anyway?

 

[OldScratch]

Whats so good about being "happy" anyway?

For most that is self-explanatory. Are you asking rhetorically, or suggesting it is not desirable to be happy? Or better to be miserable? Can you elaborate?

 

[MasterOLightning]

I find it easier to be sad and alone. I think many miserable people enjoy it in a way.

 

[Norsemaiden]

The most consistently happy people seem to be the mental defectives in care homes, and natives from certain parts of the world, who burst into song and dance at the slightest provocation (they are also easily provoked into committing massacres). These sort of people really enjoy carnivals.

Northern Europeans are the most serious and least prone to such care free exhuberance.

Yes that is stereotyping. But its true though.

 

[derbeder]

Northern Europeans are the most serious and least prone to such care free exhuberance.

that may also be part of the reason why there is so much drug use. people take drugs to feel such care free exhuberance. they don't find it in their daily lives.

 

[metal_wrath]

I would absolutely not lend my own will and individualism in order to be carefree, ignorant, mindless, and HAPPY. Although I believe everyone wants to be happy, whether that means having lots of friends and shit or lying in a fuckin' coffin

 

[speed]

Whats so good about being "happy" anyway?

Good question, with no real universal answer.

 

[derek]

I've often wondered if I'd trade how I am now with a carefree version of myself, although perhaps a stupid/ignorant one.

It's a hard question. I'd be lying if I said no. Sometimes I wish I was ignorant yet happy, and others I am glad of my awareness.

Hard question, yup.

 

[metal_wrath]

I would argue that there is no real definition of 'happy' either, unless you are speaking of it as a neurological state of euphoria, which is probably not attained by those in a constant 'miserable' state

 

[The Devil's Steed]

I've never been a happy person by nature and I long ago figured out that only one thing is going to bring me true, long lasting happiness (excluding death) and this thing isn't likely to happen. Due to this, my views may be a bit skewed. No, I would not by any means change who I am for the sake of being happy. I spent years in high school and junior high watching all the happy morons prancing about in utter stupidity and all the potheads who were 'happy' but cared for nothing other than being stoned, and I really don't want to be part of either group. Being miserable? Fine, I can deal with it. Becoming a mindless shell in the name of happiness? No. I have to admit, I've considered the possibility once in a while -- in a similar hypothetical situation -- but I always came up with the same answer: What I would be losing is far more than what I would gain.

 

[Έρεβος]

Although I believe everyone wants to be happy, whether that means having lots of friends and shit or lying in a fuckin' coffin

Not really true . . . I don't want to be happy any more than I want to feel sorrow. Life should be in balance. Happiness is absolutely meaningless without sorrow. Neither are inherently "bad" or "good", rather, both are vital. Though actually, personally I'd prefer sorrow. You learn alot more in situations that cause pain than those that do not, they make you a greater, stronger person.

 

[Seditious]

No, I would not by any means change who I am for the sake of being happy.

What I would be losing is far more than what I would gain.

what is the value of being who you are? why do you do anything you do if not towards some sort of better mood?

 

[Seditious]

I've often wondered if I'd trade how I am now with a carefree version of myself, although perhaps a stupid/ignorant one.

It's a hard question. I'd be lying if I said no. Sometimes I wish I was ignorant yet happy, and others I am glad of my awareness.

Hard question, yup.

mhmm.

I mean, I'm really not sure about some peoples answers here, I think they're not following things to their ends. I mean the real question is, what is the value in being who you are if it was always going to make you miserable? It's said by every philosopher that people want to be happy, it's an ontological matter, so I find it hard to believe some people suggesting they don't want happiness ---sure if being who you are still brings some happiness it may be easy to say you want to keep who you are, but why do you care about being who you are? does anyone honestly do anything without considering happiness as an end?

 

[Seditious]

Good question, with no real universal answer.

I think it has one.

there's nothing really 'good' about being living matter instead of non-living matter either, but the species struggle to survive. happiness isn't 'important' sure, everything is meaningles probably, but ontologically we are forced to find it 'good,' just as we ontologically find pleasure good.

to 'what's so good about happiness' I think it is easy enough to refute saying 'what is so good about everything else in life?' --- anyone who accepts there is no meaning to anything, no 'meaning' to suffer or die rather than pursue happiness, realises all things are but lesser means, and 'whats so good' about those, only that they are means are they good. Personally I answer what's so good about happiness is that it is the highest good.