The Definition of Happiness

[Narusegawa]

I have been researching this topic for some time and I am interested in what you view happiness as. In your culture, are there common denominators for happiness? If so, what are they? If not, why?

Another interesting aspect is how psychology individualistic societies (tending to think more as individuals; e.g. USA, Europe) and collectivistic societies (tending to think more as groups; e.g. East Asia) differ from each other in regards to their definition of happiness in terms of how they value individualistic aspects vs. group aspects.

I know this is not a psychology forum but I thought some of you could be interested in this. I will write more soon but I'd love to hear your ideas!

- naru

[poxpower]

Well there's two types: fleeting happiness ( eating a donut ) and long-term happiness ( being happy with your job ).

One seems to be more pleasure-oriented, easy to measure and independent of culture/ society ( everyone enjoys a donut ) while the other is heavily artificial but a lot more fulfilling and long-lasting.

For instance, if you are happy with your body, then you will get the feeling of happiness every time you think about it. But the way to be happy with your body has nothing to do with your body and everything to do with how you perceive the ideal body.

If you can have a cultural ideal of life that also happens to be easy to match in practice, then that's where you'll maximize your happiness. In other words, aim low while thinking it's high and you'll succeed in being happy no matter how badly you did in other people's eyes.

Case in point: some monks. They don't do jack shit, own nothing, achieve nothing, have no family, advance nothing but they're happy just meditating and existing.

And on the chemical level, happiness is just a bunch of chemicals in your brain which we might be able to synthesize one day and hook you up to a machine. Some people would tell you this isn't real happiness but those people are quite stupid.
They're like those snooty chefs and gourmands who constantly fail blind taste tests for their fancy snooty "authentic" food. Yeah, fancy that, you CAN make wine that's as good as any other for 10$. Food is a chemical, chemicals don't give a fuck how much they cost to make, they taste the same.

Similarly, chemical happiness is the same as "feeling accomplished", which is just a substitute for "whenever I think about my life, I feel good about it", the "good" feeling coming from chemical releases to your brain.

[frigi]

Happiness is nothing more than an electrical signal interpreted in your brain and the chemicals it releases. Go even deeper and its just atoms reacting with other atoms.

In short, happiness and all feelings are nothing more than an illusion. Even free will and self awareness are just an illusion. But it is one hell of an awesome illusion. :D

[camobch0]

Basically what Poxxy said.

[Atlas]

My version of happy would be a personal hospital, a huge computer room, a great big bedroom, HD Internet Television, and moments of peace when I wanted it.

But other people's versions of happiness would be a monk wants silence and peace.

A dog would probably want love and doggy treats when he pleased.

Basically everyone wants something different.