Do you think happiness is possible?

What does God do when he gets bored, he creates an experience where he perceives he's/she's a separate self through through a dualistic mind. Ultimately you are happiness you just have to learn to trigger it from inside rather than from an outside situation. 99.9% of people walk around trying to trigger it from the outside, and there's not necessarily anything wrong with that, it just becomes a bit stale after a while especially without any belief that you are more than just the dualistic experience. Religion is a doorway into understanding that not everything is external.

Sadhguru actually addressed recently

 
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David Nelson said:
This might sound a vague title, but please bear with me. What I am thinking is do people believe it is a goal which is realistic and achievable, or ‘only’ an ideal to be aimed at?

It seems with the decline of religious beliefs in the west, that nothing has arisen to satisfy the urges for meaning in life. I think we need something to replace them, but is the current general belief only that life is essentially pointless and that we just aim to maximise our secular and relative happiness? If this is true, is happiness just relative? I’ll put aside my own beliefs for now, as I’m interested in what others think about this.
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Categorize these emotions. (It’s difficult but not impossible)
In contrast: happiness is different from “joy”. You can be sad, angry, happy going through every human emotion possible in response to things happening to you and attempt to turn them off control them and shut them off. Keep in mind whether it’s appropriate is for no one else to decipher but yourself. Now think about these outside of you: Greif, loss, betrayal.

What possible emotions do you imagine can come from them after? Is it a fleeting emotion? Or is it eternal?
 
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I think happiness is becoming more elusive but it’s probably more to do with politics and inequality than anything. I do have this feeling that people often struggle to find meaning in their lives. It is usually possible of course, but made more difficult by rising life satisfaction expectations and a greater difficulty achieving them. We live in a cynical age. We have more tools to help us achieve better mental states but I wonder if there is just too much information out there for people.

The rise in understanding of science and loss of faith in ethics in many is a toxic aspect of our modern cultures. Note I am talking in generality, not about single individuals.

Chasing happiness is futile since it will become harder and harder to obtain and offer diminishing returns. We need things like purpose and meaning. These are not purely subjective as they need to be rooted in reality at least to some degree. Fake meaning and purpose will surely create cognitive dissonance, and negative life situations.
 
Milktoast Bandit said:
Anything is impossible if you want it hard enough.
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Definitely a lot of wisdom in that statement. The power of human agency when fuelled by passion is incredible. Not only can you achieve seemingly incredible things, but others will either admire you like crazy, or be envious as hell. Go Milktoast! Lol

You meant to say possible right??
 
David Nelson said:
Now religions give a largely fictional meaning and artificial morality.
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John K is walking internally. We can watch the birds and find happiness. Reading the above quote, I find myself saddened.

Christianity is not a first-person religion. It is not what I do, but what He did. Much of my happiness comes from understanding something, so what could this mean?

From Galatians 2
"
16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."

"1 John 4:8
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."

Is happiness that which we should seek in all this world? For I have known sadness, that I should know love.
 
Many of the moral lessons in the Bible are messed up. Why does killing your son absolve humanity of its sins?

I suspect there may be good moral wisdom in parts of the bible, but much of it, especially the Old Testament is a bloodthirsty horror show.

I think Jesus was probably a good man who meant well. But there’s no evidence he rose from the dead etc., and we don’t believe that sort of thing these days if we are rational.

INFJ can give everything for others but will it be appreciated? Jesus achieved a great legacy but much hypocrisy is now done in the name of religion. I’m sure if Jesus was alive today he would condemn most or all religions as hypocritical.

I should have titled the thread about contentment, because that has deeper meaning than happiness.
 
Yes. Happiness is a state of mind.
As long as you are looking for it and expecting a destination, you won't find it.
All you can do is find balance in your life, focus on whatever you believe your true purpose is (your true life goals), and the people and beings you love, and focus on appreciating life and finding happiness in being alive.

Right now, losing someone so close to me and important to me late last year, I still find happiness in life despite the fact that I've felt like walking into the forest and never coming back on many a day. How? Because I focus hard on my purpose, appreciation, my closest relationships, and never taking anything for granted.

If you think happiness is a future goal, it will elude you.
 
Trying not to argue the Bible, Leviticus explains all the blood offerings and the High Priest.
Hebrews connects the dots about blood offerings and how Jesus took them away., sitting as the High Priest Himself.
Understanding it is a lifelong journey. It is the path billions have chosen, like over 2.3 billion others on this planet. Over 31 percent of the world are Christians. I'll let the numbers say the rest.
 
Christian numbers are in decline, as are church attendances. At one time everyone thought the Earth was flat. God has always just filled the gaps in man’s ignorance. For many now, he’s the one who started the Big Bang lol
 
No laughing here. Does God fill the gaps of atheists, I wonder? Of sinners that won't change their ways? Those with no background? We need only ask.

Faith is the substance of all things not found: The evidence of things not seen; Without faith, it is impossible to please God.
 
I think we do need to believe in something. I think that thing should be love. Sadly much of our culture in recent decades has worshipped money more than love.
 
God is love.

After reading Exodus, I remit something from memory: "For all have sinned, and fall short of the Glory of God."

Teachers and parents have changed. Students and children are being brought up differently. People who live against God's ethics and morals turn their backs on God. All this will change.

HAPPINESS? A choice. A decision, with moments of sadness. Try helping someone that needs help, asking and expecting nothing in return.
 
David Nelson said:
I should have titled the thread about contentment, because that has deeper meaning than happiness.
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I think to live fully one has to allow themselves to feel all emotion, so I shy away from idealizing any one of them. In this way a quest for happiness just doesn't compute. But I do understand the kind of contentment one can have when living in alignment with one's truth. In my case my truth is something that evolves as I grow in understanding of greater truth, so the sense of contentment I have coexists with a comfortable type of contending for more.
 
David Nelson said:
This might sound a vague title, but please bear with me. What I am thinking is do people believe it is a goal which is realistic and achievable, or ‘only’ an ideal to be aimed at?

It seems with the decline of religious beliefs in the west, that nothing has arisen to satisfy the urges for meaning in life. I think we need something to replace them, but is the current general belief only that life is essentially pointless and that we just aim to maximise our secular and relative happiness? If this is true, is happiness just relative? I’ll put aside my own beliefs for now, as I’m interested in what others think about this.
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We're not free.

The secular mindset has infused us with the belief that money, power, the esteem and respect of others, pleasure, and liberty of movement are what make us freer. The reality is that all these things entangle and trap us, so that we can't even imagine anything but our comfort, convenience, and pleasure. We're not free to be happy, we're trapped by our comfort and the fear of losing it.

We are so afraid of losing petty pleasures, that we end up despising the prospect of commited love, having our own children, or giving up our sins to love God. The chains we have shackled ourselves with are as light and smooth as silk, but as strong as titanium.

I believe love is possible, but like all great things, it comes at great cost: the agony and anguish of stripping ourselves of all we have placed our false hopes in.

May almighty God free us from ourselves and bless us with his love. Through Christ our Lord. Amen
 
aeon said:
...I fully agree that the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater in the move to a secular life if part of that move is to be so very certain that god is irrelevant, dead, or never existed—because this kind of rigid, purposefully-narrow thinking dismisses anything believed to be incongruous with the hard-won “progress.”

The perennial wisdom traditions from all around the globe have much to offer us that would serve us well, regardless of one’s thoughts on god, or lack thereof. I think this collective body of knowledge is dismissed or ignored at our peril.

My secular humanism is one that allows for ambiguity and incongruity—because my agnosticism speaks to my inability to know for certain—so all is worth consideration...
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This.

And if meaning is derived from narrative we must construct our narratives with care.
 
The concept of a God has all the hallmarks of an artificial creation based on belief. But if by god we mean truth, love and beauty, then the concept has relevance and importance.

I think the agnostic stance might initially seem the most sensible but this suggests the chance of a god or no god is the same, when the evidence and arguments (once deconstructed) suggest at least the biblical concept of a god is nonsense.

That’s why I’m an atheist. It doesn’t mean I know there is no God, I just don’t believe there is one in all probability, which fits the atheist belief system. However, in line with some comments above, this leaves many unanswered questions, some or all of which may never be answerable. In this sense, the wonder of the universe and what anything is, is mind bogglingly puzzling.

Every religion afaik has 3 components: a historical narrative (usually supernatural in nature), moral lessons/teachings and the physical church and rituals. Imo only the moral element is crucial, and this is obtainable via humanism.
 
David Nelson said:
The concept of a God has all the hallmarks of an artificial creation based on belief. But if by god we mean truth, love and beauty, then the concept has relevance and importance.

I think the agnostic stance might initially seem the most sensible but this suggests the chance of a god or no god is the same, when the evidence and arguments (once deconstructed) suggest at least the biblical concept of a god is nonsense.

That’s why I’m an atheist. It doesn’t mean I know there is no God, I just don’t believe there is one in all probability, which fits the atheist belief system. However, in line with some comments above, this leaves many unanswered questions, some or all of which may never be answerable. In this sense, the wonder of the universe and what anything is, is mind bogglingly puzzling.

Every religion afaik has 3 components: a historical narrative (usually supernatural in nature), moral lessons/teachings and the physical church and rituals. Imo only the moral element is crucial, and this is obtainable via humanism.
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For what it's worth, I think we see things in much the same way.

When I consider the various versions of God I've encountered in the articulations of others my position might move from agnostic to atheistic or even anti-theistic if warranted, but I do still feel drawn to play around and interact with the concept of God. In truth it isn't hard for me to envision a relationship with a conception of God that serves a psycho-spiritual need. This is about a relationship with a personification of ideals though, as well as a way to engage with a hunger for growth. More simply put, it feels like working with and relating to archetypes in a very personal way.
 
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