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Comment by chewz | Hacker News Reader

I subscribe to Frenkl's [1] theory. Some people seek happiness some purpose in life. Most are probably in between.

> What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him.

[1 https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/vi...

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When one strives for the happiness of others one has fulfilled the greatest purpose in life and the reward is a deep abiding peace and happiness, regardless of circumstance.

All it costs is your entire life and the scorn of your fellow man who are mostly embroiled in the seeking of pleasures and therefore know not happiness.

What a bargain!

So you agree to go wherever the carrot of happiness and the stick of suffering lead you?

Part of what you sacrifice in doing this are freedom, self-determination, and dignity.

Freedom is our fundamental human right, self-determination is limited by material means, and dignity is knowing that you seek to both understand and embody the highest ideals.

But sacrificing the freedom to cause misery to others? What a small price to pay.

You don't have to cause misery to others merely because you have chosen to go your own way rather than choosing to chase happiness.

Happiness : Pleasure :: Unhappiness : Misery.

The former of each are karmic, the latter of each are physical.

Happiness and unhappiness are not "chased"; they are earned as a result of one's treatment of others.

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