Humans Aren't Meant to be Happy?

[Audie]

Happiness is now and fleeting. Enjoyable and pleasant, but I'd rather have contentness in life.

Ah well, that is all semantics.
I like what Mom told me, though, about fun.

"Fun is like candy, you only want a little at a time."

 

[Nakosis]

IF YOU READ the original, you will notice that is says
The prufuit of happineff.

Does bad spelling make you unhappy?

 

[Father Heathen]

Isn't it in your best interest to strive for a life that's less **** tomorrow than it was yesterday for the sake of mental health?

 

[Audie]

Does bad spelling make you unhappy?

I tend not to notice them, because I just
kind of look at the shape of words.

 

[Nakosis]

Maybe, depending on how one defines "happiness." Perhaps a certain measure of security and material comfort might help to aid one's happiness.

Hard to be happy when one is constantly worried about where their next meal is coming from. Or if they can't be safe in their homes (whether from predators, criminals, jack-booted thugs, etc.), then that would certainly be an impediment to happiness.

Happiness might also come from a sense of belonging, as people who feel isolated tend to feel alienated and unhappy. That may explain why people from apparently good families join cults, in order to feel a sense of belonging which had somehow been absent from their lives.

To me happiness comes from inside, no really, not just a cliche.

As @George-ananda stated, detachment leads to happiness/bliss...

Sometimes I think I'm too happy. I find life, both its ups and downs amusing. My happiness seems not dependent on my circumstances. This idea of we aren't supposed to be happy struck me as odd.

 

[Nakosis]

Isn't it in your best interest to strive for a life that's less **** tomorrow than it was yesterday for the sake of mental health?

Buddhism seems the best path to pursue that for me at least.

 

[Nakosis]

You can't be happy all the time. Science has tested that and it doesn't work.
In practice go for content, good enough and not perfect.

What is your thoughts on the idea of a spiritual state of bliss?

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

What is your thoughts on the idea of a spiritual state of bliss?

In practice as I understand it, it can help with achieve local happiness at short periods, but overall you end being more content.
Now if you can achieve a high level of being content, it might approach being happy all the time.

But I am of the western scientific(not hard science) tradition and for some practitioners of that, you go for removing as much negativity as possible, give possibilities for moments of happiness and raise the level of being content.

Regards and love
Mikkel

 

[Father Heathen]

Buddhism seems the best path to pursue that for me at least.

I like buddhism, but it's incompatible with my personality.

 

[Stevicus]

To me happiness comes from inside, no really, not just a cliche.

As @George-ananda stated, detachment leads to happiness/bliss...

Sometimes I think I'm too happy. I find life, both its ups and downs amusing. My happiness seems not dependent on my circumstances. This idea of we aren't supposed to be happy struck me as odd.

Do you think that happiness is something one has to learn, at least in the sense of controlling happiness from inside? I can think of any number of circumstances which would make the average person extremely unhappy. To try to remain "happy" during periods of great difficulty or adversity might seem an uphill task. Others might even consider it odd that someone is happy under those circumstances.

 

[Nakosis]

Do you think that happiness is something one has to learn, at least in the sense of controlling happiness from inside? I can think of any number of circumstances which would make the average person extremely unhappy. To try to remain "happy" during periods of great difficulty or adversity might seem an uphill task. Others might even consider it odd that someone is happy under those circumstances.

Yes, I consider it odd.

 

[We Never Know]

It’s worth remembering, then, that we are not designed to be consistently happy. Instead, we are designed to survive and reproduce. These are difficult tasks, so we are meant to struggle and strive, seek gratification and safety, fight off threats and avoid pain. The model of competing emotions offered by coexisting pleasure and pain fits our reality much better than the unachievable bliss that the happiness industry is trying to sell us. In fact, pretending that any degree of pain is abnormal or pathological will only foster feelings of inadequacy and frustration.

Postulating that there is no such thing as happiness may appear to be a purely negative message, but the silver lining, the consolation, is the knowledge that dissatisfaction is not a personal failure. If you are unhappy at times, this is not a shortcoming that demands urgent repair, as the happiness gurus would have it. Far from it. This fluctuation is, in fact, what makes you human.
Humans Aren’t Designed to Be Happy – So Stop Trying - The Conversation - Pocket

So what do you think? Is the pursuit of happiness just a pipe dream?

People try to find happiness. I've seen people be happier with nothing than someone with everything. Happiness isn't found, it's made.

 

[Twilight Hue]

It’s worth remembering, then, that we are not designed to be consistently happy. Instead, we are designed to survive and reproduce. These are difficult tasks, so we are meant to struggle and strive, seek gratification and safety, fight off threats and avoid pain. The model of competing emotions offered by coexisting pleasure and pain fits our reality much better than the unachievable bliss that the happiness industry is trying to sell us. In fact, pretending that any degree of pain is abnormal or pathological will only foster feelings of inadequacy and frustration.

Postulating that there is no such thing as happiness may appear to be a purely negative message, but the silver lining, the consolation, is the knowledge that dissatisfaction is not a personal failure. If you are unhappy at times, this is not a shortcoming that demands urgent repair, as the happiness gurus would have it. Far from it. This fluctuation is, in fact, what makes you human.
Humans Aren’t Designed to Be Happy – So Stop Trying - The Conversation - Pocket

So what do you think? Is the pursuit of happiness just a pipe dream?

Well the very fact that we do get happy shows that we are already evolved to accommodate happiness.

However long term happiness would be contentious for the very same reasons you stated above. Like anything we experience, we can't be happy forever.