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If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

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Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#101

Post by incomingpain »

derac wrote: post #3
incomingpain wrote: post #2

The smarter you are, the more unhappy and lonely you will be. Been known for millenia; doesn't have to stay this way. edit/ sorry got shadow banned over this post. cant reply to anyone.

I disagree, they are just not necessarily associated. Less intelligent people have problems too. Children constantly throw tantrums, for instance. I do agree that overthinking and the high neuroticism that usually comes with intelligence will lead to an unhappy life usually. Contentment imo requires understanding your insignificance in the universe and having strong values to drive your behavior. Usually that means n…

Been a couple hours, usually my shadowban ends by now. Lets see if I can reply.

>I disagree, they are just not necessarily associated. Less intelligent people have problems too. Children constantly throw tantrums, for instance.

It's not me necessarily saying the above. I will defend it.

The thing with 'becoming intelligent' is you often have to make sacrifices to do so. Those sacrifices like friends or family will result in unhappiness.

Once you realize this issue, you can work toward fixing this issue. You dont have to be unhappy.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#102

Post by incomingpain »

e_i_pi_2 wrote: post #15
incomingpain wrote: post #2

The smarter you are, the more unhappy and lonely you will be. Been known for millenia; doesn't have to stay this way. edit/ sorry got shadow banned over this post. cant reply to anyone.

I think intelligence and happiness are independent and both fall on a spectrum for people. Intelligent people are probably just more likely to see that as the root of their unhappiness - "it must be because I'm so smart and understand the world better than other people" where less intelligent people would blame something else. In reality I think it's more "I just don't have habits of viewing the world positively" for…

>I think intelligence and happiness are independent and both fall on a spectrum for people. Intelligent people are probably just more likely to see that as the root of their unhappiness - "it must be because I'm so smart and understand the world better than other people" where less intelligent people would blame something else. In reality I think it's more "I just don't have habits of viewing the world positively" for everyone

You kind of touch on an idea. The more intelligent someone is, the more likely they understand the world better and become more cynical or upset.

But I think it has more to do with more personal reality. For someone to become sheldon cooper, they have to sacrifice their friends and family. Therefore end up being unhappy because at the end of the day we are all social beings.

But as I said, this isn't a permanent thing.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#103

Post by boringg »

sureglymop wrote: post #30
z5h wrote: post #12

We haven't established that intelligence should imply happiness. We haven't even established that intelligence should imply the desire to be happy. If intelligence enables a person to identify problems, and problems make a person unhappy, then an intelligent person will have at least one factor that tends to increase unhappiness.

A mistake we sometimes make is to assume that intelligent also = good. But intelligence doesn't imply that a person is e.g. social, empathetic, ethically responsible etc.

There are many forms of intelligence. Also much of the behavior your are talking about is learned behavior.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#104

Post by sergiogdr »

brookst wrote: post #78
skilled wrote: post #16

Buddhism principles do not lock you in their system if all you want is to understand how happiness works and why you are not happy. But people just ignore it anyway. Which is precisely the problem. Why address things when you can either ignore them or you can fight against yourself, but in both scenarios you always go round and round in the same loop. In the current global consciousness, happiness is attributed to ma…

> happiness is attributed to material possessions Is it? I see far more people saying that material possessions don't make one happy than that they do. How many movies, novels, etc, are about living for oneself rather than possessions? How many say the opposite ? IMO everyone knows that material possessions are nice to have, in the sense that we all want what we want, but also that they do not produce happiness. Does…

> Is it? I see far more people saying that material possessions don't make one happy than that they do. How many movies, novels, etc, are about living for oneself rather than possessions? How many say the opposite? IMO everyone knows that material possessions are nice to have, in the sense that we all want what we want, but also that they do not produce happiness. Does anyone say otherwise?

Yeah, I agree with you in that it is "common knowledge" that material possessions != happiness. However, I do question that we actually believe this on a level deeper than just an intellectual exercise. I think that it would be better to be a bit more precise about what we mean by "material possession". For example: would the fulfillment of the desire to be in a love relationship count as "material possession"? I would say it does, in the sense that the expectation is that an external element will fulfill us, because there is something that we currently lack to feel 'complete'. So we might think: "if only I had this relationship with this beautiful person" or "if only I could buy a bigger house", the abstract form being "if only I could have X or Y experience", etc. In this sense I would say that this paradigm is very much the rule in our attempt for happiness, and even if people acknowledge intellectually that it isn't so, it is actually implicit in their worldview and behavior.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#105

Post by pkoird »

nyokodo wrote: post #41
pkoird wrote: post #22

There's a famous poem written by a Nepali poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota: O Lord, Please maketh me Sheep. It's too heavy to translate entirely but a succinct summary is that to not have intelligence is the only path towards happiness.

Sheep as prey animals are highly prone to anxiety. I wouldn’t want to be one.

Too bad the poet wasn't well versed in Zoology it seems.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#106

Post by karmakaze »

david-gpu wrote: post #95
dimmke wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most people desire to be happy. I don't believe I need to prove this. Happy isn't a long term state of being. It's a short term emotion like anger or sadness. If you expect to feel that way all the time, and think you can achieve that through some kind of changes to your life you are setting yourself up for failure. You should aim to build a life that is in line with your values, and accept that you're going to have…

> Happy isn't a long term state of being. It's a short term emotion like anger or sadness. "Happy" is a vague overused term that means different things to different people at different times. While elation or euphoria are fleeting emotions, one can be content or satisfied for prolonged periods of time. It's a bit like confusing sadness and depression.

> one can be content or satisfied for prolonged periods of time

This is suspect. I couldn't imagine that any contentment or satisfaction that I experience now would last without additional activity to maintain it. The passage of time while doing nothing (or having no affect) is a clear way I can imagine leading to dissatisfaction.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#107

Post by SyzygistSix »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #68
hinata08 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you even make the connection between work and happiness ? HR and corporations don't work to make you happy, some just play you to get better job and money themselves. I've just learnt to get happiness and fulfillment in clubs, friends and family, so that some abusive managers don't have the power to make me happy or not. And I've become more minimalist. I should be able to survive, if I change of job.

Yes, it turns out work will NOT make you free...

But it said it would on the sign at the entrance!

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#108

Post by zyvy »

I studied two courses on the Coursera, The Science of Well-Being and the Psychology of recognition and self-employment. And I can say that the real happines value is not in work-job achievements or money - but in recognition and social interaction with worthy people. There are excellent lectures by Russian professor Oleg Lukyanov where he criticizes the psychology of achievements that drive people into stress and offers in return the psychology of recognition. And of course happiness it generally depends on other things

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#110

Post by hinata08 »

SyzygistSix wrote: post #107
adamsmith143 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it turns out work will NOT make you free...

But it said it would on the sign at the entrance!

Congratulation ! You won

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