Comment by dominotw | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dominotw | Hacker News Reader

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Can someone tell me how this 'cult of happiness' started in western culture. The obsession with happiness is so pervasive and absurd that people are depressed because they are not happy 24x7 not because of a personal tragedy. Why is some vaguely defined happiness sold as some holy grail that must be achieved at all costs.

There are billion dollar industries built around selling happiness ( fashion industry, fitness industry, education industry and a million others), and yet, and yet most of happiness we are sold is a distant dream for the most of us. Why? . Why do we live in a constant conflict both within ourselves and conflict with the outer world. Do you want to live your life in this constant conflict ?

Most happiness peddling misses the important intricate relationship between happiness and pain/anxiety how they are the same feeling and pursuing one means pursuing the other. And yet most people are fooled into believing that we can somehow chase happiness while avoiding pain/anxiety. Even people who are very logical in every other parts of life buy into this absurdity.

Does this have to do anything with rise of western industrial power when marketing changed from 'buy this because you need it' to 'buy this because it will make you happy' [1]

1. http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-century-of-the-self/

In the article, the writer mentioned he is rarely unhappy for more than 20 minutes. I don't understand this. Happiness is a result of something that is good and sadness is a result of something being bad. Emotions have a purpose. Emotions are not some sort of primitive remnant from prehistoric times we need to overcome. It's as if because of science we can now see what is good and what is bad and remove the bad emotions like they had no reason or purpose.

There is a difference between happiness and joy. Some have the definitions flipped, so I'll not try to define them. It's not important which is which.

One is a result of circumstances. If something bad happens, like you get a flat tire, then you're in some negative state of emotion. Most people are ruled by this, and since most circumstances are out of our control, we spend a large portion of our time in some state of unhappiness or frustration.

The other is trying to be at peace. If you're basically at peace then the flat tire doesn't ruin your day. It's just something to deal with. Things happen, you deal with them, life goes on, and you're mostly thankful for what you have.

The author's 20 minute comment, I suspect, is that he practices mindfulness meditation, and is therefore never longer than 20 minutes away from resetting his mind to a more balanced state.

Plus there is nothing new here. This is the ancient philosophy of stoicism. See "A Guide To The Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy"

If you don't score yourself by how much better you're doing than peers (or yourself yesterday), it shouldn't be too hard to be content+optimistic, provided you're lucky enough to be healthy + intelligent + free of bad relationships.

What seems natural for most of us, though, is to become desensitized to what's good and feel only about the surprises, which eventually end up negative (mean-reversion and things over-enthusiastically taken for granted - I'll always win, they'll always love me, etc.)

I think knowing that helps a little. Just like it helps knowing that your blue mood when you're sick will pass on its own as you recover.

Some people are naturally more or less happy, I'm sure, in their baseline no-surprise state. I wouldn't worry about it until someone figures out how to change it. As long as you have energy to want+do things, you're ok.

Emotions have a purpose, but that doesn't mean you need to wallow in your unhappiness.

Tell that to someone with clinical depression.

"the pursuit of happiness" is right there in the US Declaration of Independence. The country holds that the pursuit of happiness as an unalienable right.

That's a straw man though. The "pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration is just fancy phrasing for what was originally the "right to own property". It was changed by Jefferson before the Declaration was finished because of some philosophical points from John Locke [1].

[1] http://hnn.us/article/46460

That's not even close to what "straw man" means. And even if it was, the mechanics of how and why the language ended up as it did is largely irrelevant compared to the fact of what the language actually is.

The GPs hypothesis is perfectly reasonable, indeed in the very article you link to:

> The “pursuit of happiness” has led its own life in popular culture.

Now, it's difficult to say if there would be the same focus on happiness in the culture if the phrase has been "property" but that certainly doesn't invalidate the hypothesis.

Sorry, I didn't mean to use a logical fallacy...I just got it from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_Liberty_and_the_pursuit_o...

Edits: Actually, reading the article fuller, this makes it even MORE interesting. Buying things, protecting products and property has always been tied up with happiness and the declaration. Fascinating!

"life, liberty ... and the possession of outward things"

I think you're attacking 2 different things here. One is chasing happiness, the other is the commercialisation of chasing happiness.

I have no problem with the former. I think it's healthy to try to lead an enjoyable and happy life. And I don't think that's mutually exclusive with leading a productive and meaningful life either.

>And yet most people are fooled into believing that we can somehow chase happiness ...

Well it has a long history going back before Christ eg. http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/a/The-Bu...

And more recently has become established as a fairly respectable field of study kicked off with "Positive psychology began as a new area of psychology in 1998 when Martin Seligman chose it as the theme for his term as president of the American Psychological Association" amongst other things. (from Wikipedia)

Personally I'd rather be happy than depressed and as an atheist would rather turn to science than religion for how to advice. Dunno if that's foolish.

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