• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Happiness

P

Ponder This

Well-Known Member
'Happy' means 'feeling or showing pleasure or contentment'.

But the word 'happy' actually comes from the root 'hap', meaning 'luck' or 'fortune'.

To pursue 'happiness' isn't simply to pursue a 'feeling of pleasure or contentment' but to seek one's fortune.

We also associate happiness with the idea that something is 'happening' as opposed to 'not happening'. Something that is 'hapless' is something that is 'unlucky'. We use the phrase, "What's happening?" as an alternative to "How is it going?" or "How are you?"

Some phrases include: 'Happy Medium', 'Happy Ending', 'Happy Day', and 'Happy as a clam in the mud at high tide'.

In view of the idea that happiness is about what happens, what does your religion say about the events that comprise happiness?
 
Frater Sisyphus

Frater Sisyphus

Contradiction, irrationality and disorder
Happiness is a kind of satisfaction that comes and goes, as it should. Emotions and states of mind are like waves that go in and out - waves of consciousness in tides of life.
 
Electra

Electra

Active Member
'lucky' things happen when we are in the line of the rainbow.

Does happiness bring forth events? Do events bring forth happiness? or do they intermingle at a point we can not truly say....
 
T

tayla

My dog's name is Tayla
Ponder This said:
In view of the idea that happiness is about what happens, what does your religion say about the events that comprise happiness?
Click to expand...
Sorry, I don't have a religion. As a deist, I reject revealed religion.

But I do have a spiritual walk. I think happiness is a feeling, a subjective conscious experience. Certain feelings would qualify, I suppose, as happiness. Others wouldn't, such as fear, dread, worry, anxiety, etc. Perhaps there are various kinds and degrees of happiness.
 
P

Ponder This

Well-Known Member
Axe Elf said:
True happiness isn't about what happens.
Click to expand...

Is there any happiness if nothing ever happens? What would a person be happy about?

RPSTOVAL said:
Happiness is a kind of satisfaction that comes and goes, as it should. Emotions and states of mind are like waves that go in and out - waves of consciousness in tides of life.
Click to expand...

Electra said:
'lucky' things happen when we are in the line of the rainbow.

Does happiness bring forth events? Do events bring forth happiness? or do they intermingle at a point we can not truly say....
Click to expand...

dmap said:
Sorry, I don't have a religion. As a deist, I reject revealed religion.

But I do have a spiritual walk. I think happiness is a feeling, a subjective conscious experience. Certain feelings would qualify, I suppose, as happiness. Others wouldn't, such as fear, dread, worry, anxiety, etc. Perhaps there are various kinds and degrees of happiness.
Click to expand...

Perhaps I should clarify. I get that people see happiness as a kind of feeling of satisfaction, but I'm suggesting that that point of view is incomplete. That is to say, there are events that comprise happiness. I am asking about those events. We can include the ways in which religions say that happiness comes about. Perhaps there are some religions, philosophies, or spiritual walks that can say something about that. Perhaps not.

Perhaps, religions even say not to seek happiness at all? Which is to say, don't seek good fortune? Don't strive for any purpose or for any fulfillment?
 
bubbleguppy

bubbleguppy

Serial Forum Observer
I can't talk religion but I can talk linguistics - words may change from their literal meanings over time through different applications and metaphors. That's probably why the word "happy" means what it does today and the reason it isn't fully identifiable with "happen" and "hapless"
 
Geoff-Allen

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
Interesting thread!

I have been reading "Happiness" by Matthieu Ricard.

Some people call him the World's happiest man - makes for an interesting google search!

"By happiness I mean here a deep sense of flourishing that arises from an exceptionally healthy mind. This is not a mere pleasurable feeling, a fleeting emotion, or a mood, but an optimal state of being. Happiness is also a way of interpreting the world, since while it may be difficult to change the world, it is always possible to change the way we look at it"

For more of a taste -

Articles - Matthieu Ricard

All the best!
 
P

Ponder This

Well-Known Member
Axe Elf said:
There is if you choose to be happy.



Whatever they choose to be happy about.
Click to expand...

by 'choose' do you mean that one does not pursue happiness? Or do you mean that you choose the pursuit that makes you happy? Or do you really mean that you decide that events are all the same, whether you are suffocating or breathing freely, you just decide that event is making you happy?
 
Axe Elf

Axe Elf

Prophet
Ponder This said:
by 'choose' do you mean that one does not pursue happiness? Or do you mean that you choose the pursuit that makes you happy? Or do you really mean that you decide that events are all the same, whether you are suffocating or breathing freely, you just decide that event is making you happy?
Click to expand...

Yes, the latter. it is frequently the "pursuit of happiness"--the belief that happiness is "over there, somewhere" and that we have to get to where happiness is if we want to be happy. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you can't be happy where you are, then you'll probably never be happy anywhere.

"Joy" is one of the Fruits of the Spirit, manifest through His indwelling, not because of having all those things we think we want and pursue, but because we are content with whatever God has planned for us. I like the way Wikipedia puts it in their article on the Fruits of the Spirit: "The joy referred to here is deeper than mere happiness, is rooted in God and comes from Him. Since it comes from God, it is more serene and stable than worldly happiness, which is merely emotional and lasts only for a time."

Paul wrote:

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." --Philippians 4:11-13 (NIV)
 
P

Ponder This

Well-Known Member
Axe Elf said:
Yes, the latter. it is frequently the "pursuit of happiness"--the belief that happiness is "over there, somewhere" and that we have to get to where happiness is if we want to be happy. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you can't be happy where you are, then you'll probably never be happy anywhere.
Click to expand...

I see so you regard the 'pursuit of happiness' as a fruitless and therefore pointless endeavor. A person is either 'happy' or 'unhappy' and nothing he does will change that. In other words, there are no events that bring you happiness: not birthdays, the birth of your children, not even a cold beer on a hot summer's day. Is that a fair assessment of your point of view?

Axe Elf said:
"Joy" is one of the Fruits of the Spirit, manifest through His indwelling, not because of having all those things we think we want and pursue, but because we are content with whatever God has planned for us. I like the way Wikipedia puts it in their article on the Fruits of the Spirit: "The joy referred to here is deeper than mere happiness, is rooted in God and comes from Him. Since it comes from God, it is more serene and stable than worldly happiness, which is merely emotional and lasts only for a time."
Click to expand...

You apear to be shunning the importance of worldly events. However, if the 'Fruits of the Spirit' and 'made manifest through His indwelling', then I regard this 'indwelling' as an event that occurs within a person. Is it your point of view that spiritual events do not count?

Axe Elf said:
"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." --Philippians 4:11-13 (NIV)
Click to expand...

It seems that Paul is saying that he has arrived at happiness. Perhaps happiness is not disjoint from suffering: meaning that a person can be suffering and still be happy. Perhaps also Paul is happy because he sees his life as fulfilling a greater purpose. Would Paul be happy if he saw his life as not fulfilling any purpose? Why exactly is Paul happy?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top