francescakat
Registered Member
If you are truly happy, then what's it matter what people believe in. :shrug:
Happiness
- Thread starter francescakat
- Start date
Would a truly happy person be indifferent to the misery of others?
If people suffer as a consequence of what they believe in, would a truly happy person just shrug their shoulders and go their way?
Yazata
Valued Senior Member
I can imagine a truly happy person wanting to know more, for practical reasons or simply for reasons of curiosity. In other words, I don't want to think that happiness implies intellectual stasis. Maybe the 'truly' in 'truly happy' implies that the individual isn't dependent on the success of the pursuit for his or her happiness. I know philosophers who love probing into the secrets of the universe, in full recognition that they will never figure them out. It's the path more than it's the destination.
Turning to the beliefs of the people around us, I'm inclined to think that when people are driven to somehow make everyone around them believe exactly what they believe, that's very likely a sign of some kind of inner dissatisfaction and agitation within the evangelist.
What if the thing that makes you the happiest is watching the scales fall from people's eyes as they wake up to the fact that religion is a lie?
And wouldn't it be great if all of the rest of them got out of the other folks' doctors' offices and bedrooms, and out of the kids' classrooms? And of course if they would drop the all the other junk they're peddling, from their belief that God put fossil fuels in the ground so we could convert it all to atmospheric carbon, to their other pretenses about racial supremacy (perhaps expanding on the notion of a "chosen people" to include people of Nordic/Anglo-Saxon stock), to their pretentious claims about how to dominate world markets like good little capitalists, unfettered by the chains of Big Government and so on, believing that God put these things on their plate for them to exploit and profit from.
No I think what people believe in sometimes encroaches too far into the rights and liberties of the rest of us to just be left to fester like it has been doing for decades. Plus, so much of it is so loaded with propaganda and ignorance. It's just begging for someone to jump in and challenge it, the same way some folks will struggle to find a cure for some deadly disease. Religion is certainly infectious, so the folks who are spreading it should expect some feedback--and an occasional vaccine or two..
francescakat
Registered Member
lolWhat if the thing that makes you the happiest is watching the scales fall from people's eyes as they wake up to the fact that religion is a lie?
And wouldn't it be great if all of the rest of them got out of the other folks' doctors' offices and bedrooms, and out of the kids' classrooms? And of course if they would drop the all the other junk they're peddling, from their belief that God put fossil fuels in the ground so we could convert it all to atmospheric carbon, to their other pretenses about racial supremacy (perhaps expanding on the notion of a "chosen people" to include people of Nordic/Anglo-Saxon stock), to their pretentious claims about how to dominate world markets like good little capitalists, unfettered by the chains of Big Government and so on, believing that God put these things on their plate for them to exploit and profit from.
No I think what people believe in sometimes encroaches too far into the rights and liberties of the rest of us to just be left to fester like it has been doing for decades. Plus, so much of it is so loaded with propaganda and ignorance. It's just begging for someone to jump in and challenge it, the same way some folks will struggle to find a cure for some deadly disease. Religion is certainly infectious, so the folks who are spreading it should expect some feedback--and an occasional vaccine or two..
francescakat
Registered Member
Would you go up to someone that was truly happy and ask ," Are you okay?".
francescakat
Registered Member
A truly happy person would want everyone to be happy, all good vibes.
Seattle
Valued Senior Member
That's like saying "would a truly happy person care about ignorance in the world?". Would a truly happy person care if anyone else ever got an education? The two aren't related.
I like listening to Christmas music at this time of the year including the religious stuff. I don't think of it in those terms however. I consider the song to be referring to a fictional story that embodies the festive and caring nature of this time of year.
In my opinion, it's now time for the "reality" of religion and the literal nature of holy works (for some) to be dispensed with. It would be a much more positive thing for "religion" to just be embraced as factional stories, not to be taken literally and to be trotted out during the holidays and to be put away at the end along with the Christmas trees, lights, ornaments, etc..
I like listening to Christmas music at this time of the year including the religious stuff. I don't think of it in those terms however. I consider the song to be referring to a fictional story that embodies the festive and caring nature of this time of year.
In my opinion, it's now time for the "reality" of religion and the literal nature of holy works (for some) to be dispensed with. It would be a much more positive thing for "religion" to just be embraced as factional stories, not to be taken literally and to be trotted out during the holidays and to be put away at the end along with the Christmas trees, lights, ornaments, etc..
Which is why a truly happ person it does matter what people believe in.
No man is an island. What other people believe in tends to come up and bite you just when you least expect it.
francescakat
Registered Member
We all have our own destiny, if you're happy about what you believe in, I respect that.
kx000
Valued Senior Member
Well I guess it matters that it comes true.
spidergoat
Valued Senior Member
I do want people to be happy, but I think being rational translates into making better decisions. If we are happy but destroying the environment all around us, then it's kind of a downward spiral where things get worse and worse which causes greater dependency on belief in a fantasy rather than dealing with reality as it is.
As long as it's safe for them and others, and is sane - no problems. (i.e. a belief that they can jump off a building and fly away without mechanical assistance might make them happy - but it would be a very good idea to convince them it's not true.)
Depends on whose particular definition of "safe" and "sane" we go with ...
You went straight to the point. Most of the people I know that considers themselves happy, besides religion, are independent, either financially and 'spiritually'. They have their faith/belief/idea/philosophy whatever, but they don't rely on it, they just live their lives here. With devotion or not, just dealing and going thru' every day with both feet on the ground.
Riiight. They don't let their beliefs interefere with their lives ...